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1. LITTLE BOBTAIL ; or, The Wreck of the Penobscot. 

2. THE YACHT CLUB ; or, The Young Boat Builder. 

3. MONKY-MAKER ; or, The Victory of the Basilisk. 

4. THE COMING WAVE; or. The Hidden Treasure 

High Rock, 

5. THE DORCAS CLUB ; or. Our Girls Afloat. 

6. OCEAN BORN ; or, The Cruise of the Clubs. 


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Don John helped the Members of the Lilt Club to their Seats. Page 146 . 















THE YACHT CLUB SERIES 

{ 


THE DORCAS CLUB 


OK 

OUR GIRLS AFLOAT. 


BY 


OLIVER OPTIC 

AUTHOR OF “young AMERICA ABROAD,” “THE ARMY AND NAVY 
SERIES,” “the WOODVILLE STORIES,” “THE STARRY FLAG 
SERIES,” “the boat CLUB STORIES,” “THE LAKE 
SHORE SERIES,” ETC., ETC. 



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WITH THIRTEEN ILLUSTRATIONS 


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BOSTON 

LEE AND SHEPARD 
1902 


THE LIBRARY OF 
COHORESS. 
T'«»o Copfts RtcsiVED 

SEP. 16 1902 

^ COPVWIQHT EWmv 

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C?LASS ^ XXc No. 
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COl*Y B. 




Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1874, by 
WILLIAxM T. ADAMS, 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. 
Copyright, 1902, by Alice Adams Russell. 

The Dorcas Club. 


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TO 

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OF RAHWAY, N. J. 

To 'whose honored father^ Henry L, Stephens^ the artist^ I 
have so often been indebted for making things 
piamer 'with his fencil than I could with 
my pen^ in many of my stories, 


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PEBFACE. 


The Dorcas Club is the fifth volume of the Yacht Club Series , 
and like its fellows in the same box, is an independent story, 
having its own hero, and, in this instance, several heroines, with 
no necessary connection with any other volume of the series, 
though some of the characters whose acquaintance the reader 
has already made are again introduced. The Dorcas Society, as 
the name would indicate, was an association of young ladies, 
banded together for benevolent purposes, which did a great deal 
of good in a humble and quiet way. The members of this Soci- 
ety formed the Dorcas Club, to engage in the healthy and agree- 
able exercise of rowing. Not many years ago the skilful use of 
an oar would have been considered an unfeminine accomplishment; 
but happily the fashions change in matters of custom as well as 
garments, and now even prim maidens of uncertain age are not 
startled when they see young ladies at the oar. It is a pleasant 
and health-giving exercise for girls, and the author hopes to en- 
courage its use. 

Like the other stories of the series, the interest does not depend 
entirely upon the aquatic experience of the young ladies and 
their friends. Prince Willingood, who is the proper hero of the 

5 


6 


PREFACE. 


volume, is a young man of high aims and noble purposes who 
always tries to do right, though he does “ strike out a course in- 
dependent of his guardian,” — in this case a wicked and miserly 
uncle, whom it was a sin to obey, and a virtue to resist. The 
young reader who cherishes the same high aims and noble pur- 
})oses, will become a good man or a good woman, though never 
called upon to act a part in events so exciting as those in the 
career of the hero. 

Towerhouse, 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE. 

CHAPTER I. 

Private and Confidential, . . . . 11 

CHAPTER II. 

Dinner for One, 30 

CHAPTER III. 

The Battle Fought and Won, ... 49 

CHAPTER IV. 

The Fire at Fox Bushwell^s House, . . 69 

CHAPTER Y. 

After the Fire, ..... 90 

CHAPTER VI. 

Opening the Envelopes, . . . . 110 

T 


8 CONTENTS. 

0 11 A P T E K VI I. 

The First Lesson in Rowing, . . . 131 

CHAPTER VIII. 

The Cashier's Family, ..... 151 

CHAPTER IX. 

What the Dorcas Society did, . . .171 

CHAPTER X, 

The Undine Club, . . . . . 190 

CHAPTER XI. 

The New Professor of Rowing, . . . 209 

CHAPTER XIL 

The Solitary Oarsman, .... 228 

CHAPTER XIII, 

Mother and Daughter, .... 248 

CHAPTER XIV. 

In the Gloom of the Night, . . . 268 

CHAPTER XV. 

The Hole in the Chimney, .... 288 

CHAPTER XVI. 

The President's Letter, .... 308 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER XVII. 

The Clubs Pull to Northport, 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

The Truth will come out, 


V 


THE DORCAS CLUB; 


OR, 

OUR GIRLS AFLOAT. 


CHAPTER I. 

PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL. 

THAT’S the matter, Minnie Darling? 
y y You look so pale!” said Eva Doane, 
the secretary, as the young lady, president of 
“ The Dorcas Society,” entered the drawing- 
room of Captain Patterdale’s elegant mansion, 
where the meeting for that week was held. 

‘‘ I don’t know ; I haven’t felt very well for 
a month,” replied the president, languidly, as 
she seated herself on the sofa. “ I should not 
have come to the meeting this afternoon, if I 
had not felt that I must.” 


11 


12 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


“ I heard you were not well,” added Nellie 
Patterdale, taking Minnie’s white hand. “ Is 
it the slow fever that prevails so much just 
now ? ” 

“No; I have no fever ; I am simply tired out, 
and have lost my appetite. The doctor says I 
don’t take exercise enough.” 

“Well, why don’t you take more?” asked 
Eva. 

“I can’t. How stupid it is to walk, for 
instance, when you have nowhere to go, or to 
do anything just for the sake of exercise ! ” 
replied Minnie, rather pettishly, as though she 
had tried and failed in experiments of this kind. 
“ As soon as the warm weather comes, when 
we can play croquet, and stay out doors, I shall 
be well enough. Even then I shall envy the 
boys with their Yacht Club ; they have such 
exciting and health-giving sports.” 

“ Why can’t we have something of the kind ? 
suggested Ruth Hapgood, the vice-president. 

“What, sail boats?” exclaimed Eva. 

“No, not exactly sail them, but row them.” 

“ There isn’t much fun or excitement in merely 
paddling about in the water,” added Minnie. 


THE DORCAS CLTJB. 


18 


“We may have a boat club, as the lords of 
creation have a yacht club. Why not ? ” said 
Nellie Patterdale. 

“ Wouldn’t it be splendid ! ” added Mollie 
Longimore, one of the prettiest and sweetest of 
the young ladies in the room, though any one 
skilled in judging of feminine habiliments would 
have observed that she was not so richly dressed 
as her companions, and that she wore no costly 
jewelry. 

By this time the attention of all the young 
ladies, varying in age from fourteen to twenty, 
Avas engaged in the new and exciting topic. 
They were mostly pupils of the high school in 
the city, and had formed the association for 
benevolent purposes. One day a poor Irish girl, 
who was struggling against many obstacles to 
obtain an education, was missed from her accus- 
tomed place in school. One of the scholars gave 
the information that the poor girl’s mother had 
been burned out the night before, and nearly all 
the clothing of her three children had been 
destroyed. The master suggested that his pupils 
should do something for the family, in this emer- 
gency, by bringing some of their cast-off cloth- 


14 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


ing for the sufferers. In a few hours more gar- 
ments were supplied than the poor woman had 
ever possessed in all her lifetime. The girls 
seemed to be inspired by this deed of charity, 
which resulted in the formation of the Dorcas 
Society. It met one afternoon of each week, 
and the girls — many of them the daughters of 
the richest citizens of the place — made gar- 
ments, and collected cast-off clothing, which they 
distributed to the poor, without distinction of 
sect, nation, or color. When money was needed, 
they raised it by carrying subscription papers to 
the wealthy. 

Everybody who knew anything about the mat- 
ter, declared that the Dorcas Society did a great 
deal of good, not only to * the poor, but to its 
members, for charity is “ twice blessed.” In the 
cutting and making of garments, they were 
cheerfully assisted by their mothers and their 
maiden aunts, and being deeply interested in 
their employment, they made great proficiency 
in the arts of sewing and dress-making. Doubt- 
less some of the wealthier ones obtained a knowl- 
edge of what they would not have been required 
to learn at home. 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


15 


As it was a sewing society, and as the meet- 
ings were held in the afternoon, the boys of the 
school were very sorry to find that they could 
take no part in the good work ; for the mothers 
of the girls insisted, for obvious reasons, that 
the young men should not be admitted to the 
society. 

The young “lords of creation” wished to con- 
tribute money, if nothing more, to the enter- 
prise ; but even this aid was resolutely declined. 
Yet the attendance of one boy was requested at 
each meeting, by the society, who was graciously 
permitted to run of errands for the members, to 
purchase thread and needles, deliver bundles, or 
even, if not otherwise employed, to hold a skein 
of thread or yarn for winding. The mothers and 
maiden aunts were fully assured that there was no 
“ flirting ” in the society, which now consisted of 
twenty-five members. 

“We could form a boat club as well as the 
boys,” said Nellie Patterdale. 

“ And buy a boat,” added Ruth Hapgood, 
“ so that we could have it all to ourselves.” 

“ How much would it cost ? ” asked Mollie 
Longimore, whose enthusiasm seemed to be sud- 
denly checked. 


16 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


“ That would depend upon the size and finish 
of it, I suppose,” replied Nellie. ‘‘ My father 
has always said that rowing was a good exercise 
for girls ; and he has seen young ladies row as 
well or better than any boys.” 

“ Mercury,” said Minnie, calling to Prince 
Willingood, who was the errand boy of the after- 
noon ; and whoever held the office, he was always 
addressed by the name of the messenger of the 
gods, as, being the messenger of the goddesses, 
it was quite appropriate that he should be. 

“Miss President,” replied Prince, a good- 
looking fellow of seventeen, though not very 
well dressed. 

The young man bowed low, as he stood before 
the chief officer of the association. His eye 
twinkled, and it was evident that he was just a 
little inclined to burlesque the forms of the 
society. 

“ Do you know anything about row-boats. 
Mercury?” inquired the president. 

“Do I know anything about row-boats, Min- 
nie, darling?” he replied. 

“ My name is Minnie Darling,” said the chief 
officer, blushing deeply ; and the girls began to 


THE DOECAS CLUB. 17 

titter, as girls sometimes will, though not often 
on such solemn occasions as the present. 

“1 beg your pardon. Miss President; but I 
said Minnie, darling,” added Prince, bowing low 
again. 

“You will oblige me by putting your words 
a little more closely together, for you speak my 
name as you would read it if some blundering 
writer had put a comma between the Christian 
and surname.” 

“ Pardon me ; I will try to do better. Min- 
nie darling — how is that?” 

Though he made no pause between the two 
words, he emphasized the first so that the effect 
was the same as before. 

“That will not do, sir!” exclaimed the presi- 
dent, sharply. “I shall punish you Tor contempt 
of court — ” 

“ Pardon me ; I have no contempt of court ; 
for I think courting must be one of the nicest 
things in the world, though I don’t know any- 
thing about in myself. 

“ I shall banish you from the Dorcas Society 
forever.” 

“ Don’t do that I ” pleaded Prince, dropping 

2 


18 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


upon his knees, and extending his arms, as one 
might do in a play. 

“ As the president of this association, I will 
not permit such language,” said Minnie Darling, 
severely. 

“ I will never do it again ! I solemnly prom- 
ise, I vow on the honor of a knight — ” 

“ Silence, sir ! ” 

“ I am dumb.” 

“ Shall this culprit be banished from our pres- 
ence, Sisters of Dorcas?” continued the presi- 
dent, turning to the young ladies, whose mirth 
did not permit them to work. “ Those in favor 
of it will say, ‘ Ay.’ ” ^ 

Not one voted. 

“ Those opposed will say — exercitationihusque,'' 
Exercitationihusque^ exclaimed several who 
studied Latin, and knew the word. 

‘‘ By the grace of these sisters of Dorcas you 
are saved from banishment. Mercury ; but, like 
General Jackson, I will take the responsibility, 
and drive you from this Eden, if you ever 
address me by any other than my official title.” 

“I never will, Min — Miss President — thanks 
for your clemency,” answered Prince, bowing 
low again. 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


19 


“ I asked you, Mercury, if you knew anything 
about row-boats? I repeat the question.” 

“ I do. Miss President.” 

“What do you know?” 

“That they are used mostly in the water. 
Miss President.” 

“ Indeed, Mercury ! ” 

“ They are not of much use where there is no 
water. Miss President.” 

“ I see that you understand the whole sub- 
ject. How much do row-boats cost?” 

“ From two dollars and fifty cents up to a 
thousand dollars. Miss President.” 

“That is very definite.” 

“ Row-boats are very definite, and include 
everything from a calked sugar-box up to the 
launch of a ship-of-the-line, Miss President.” 

“Do you know of a light boat, in which young 
ladies might practise the art of rowing, Mer- 
cury ? ” 

“I do.” 

“ Is it for sale ? ” 

“Alas! I know not.” 

“Could you ascertain?” 

“I could.” 


“Go and do so.” 


20 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


“I fly on the wings of — J. Prince WiHin- 
good.” 

“Where is the boat, Mercury?” 

“In the shop of Don John, the renowned 
Doat-builder, otherwise Ramsey & Son, who built 
it with his own skilful hands during the winter 
which has just passed away.” 

“If for sale, ascertain the price, and whether 
it is suitable for young ladies.” 

“I am gone. Miss President;” and in another 
instant he was gone. 

Prince Willingood hastened to the shop of 
Don John, the builder of the Sea Foam, Maud, 
Ahce, and other celebrated yachts of the fleet. 
The young builder was hard at work painting a 
beautiful four-oar race-boat which he had just 
completed. 

“How you was, Don John?” said Prince. 

“First rate; how are you. Prince?” 

“Salubrious. What are you going to do. with 
that boat, Don John?” said the messenger of 
the goddesses, proceeding to business. 

“That depends. Work was slack with me 
this last winter, and I built her more for the 
fun of it, and to see what I could do in this 
line, than for any other reason.” 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


21 


ell, she is as handsome as the prettiest 
girl in the High School. But what are you 
going to do with her?” 

“ Sell her, I suppose, if anybody wants her.” 

“Then she is for sale?” 

“ She is, though I don’t care any great about 
selling her. I have an idea in my head, though 
I may sell her.” 

“What’s that?” 

“I think I won’t say anything about it now,” 
laughed Don John. 

“ What’s the price of her ? ” 

“Two hundred dollars.” 

“ Lowest price ? ” 

“The very lowest. I will keep her for my 
idea rather than let her go for less.” 

“Is she fit for girls — for young ladies — you 
know ! ” 

“For young ladies!” exclaimed Don John. 

“That’s what I said.” 

“But why do you ask such a question?” 

“ That’s my idea, and I think I won’t say 
any thing about it,” replied Prince, demurely. 

“ She is just the thing for young ladies. She 
is very light and very strong.” 


22 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


“ Right ; that’s ; good by, Don John ; ” and 
Prince turned on his heel and left the shop, 
each of the young men wondering what the 
other’s idea was. 

Mercury returned to the elegant mansion of 
Captain Patterdale, and was in the presence of 
the goddesses again. 

‘‘ Miss President.” 

“ Mercury.” 

“ The row-boat is for sale.” 

“The price?” 

“Two hundred dollars 

“Is it suitable for young ladies?” 

“ Most suitable. Miss President, for the re- 
nowned boat-builder a sures me she is very light 
and very strong.” 

“How large is she. Mercury?” 

“I have not her length; but she must be 
thirty-five or forty feet long. She pulls four 
oars, and has room in the stern- sheets for two 
at least, besides the one who holds the tiller- 
ropes.” 

“It is well. Mercury. Did you say aught to 
the boat-builder that the Sisters of Dorcas sent 



“Don’t do that!” pleaded Prince, dropping upon his Knees. Page 17. 










THE DORCAS CLUB. 


23 


“ I said nought to him that the goddesses had 
made me their winged messenger, Miss Presi- 
dent.” 

“You were wise and discreet. Now, good 
Mercury, carry that bundle to Mrs. McFinnigan, 
in the rear of Miller’s store.” 

Prince departed upon the errand, and the 
members discussed with enthusiasm the purchase 
of the new boat in the shop of Don John. If 
twenty of them contributed ten dollars apiece, 
the boat could be bought at once. Poor Mollie 
Longimore did not say a word, and all her 
enthusiasm had suddenly subsided. Her father 
was not a millionaire, like Mr. Montague, nor a 
half ‘millionaire^ like Captain Patterdale. His 
salary as the cashier of one of the banks was 
not large, and there had been much sickness in 
the family during the winter. All the children 
but herself had had the scarlet fever, and the 
doctor’s bills and other expenses had been very 
large. She knew that her father had been much 
troubled about money matters, and she could 
not think of asking him for ten dollars to pay 
her share of the cost of the boat. Only the 
daughters of the rich men ought to expect to 
pay so much for such a luxury. 


24 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


“We will call it the Dorcas Club,” said Nellie 
Patter dale. “I like that name ever so much.” 

“So do I. That’s splendid ! I was going to 
suggest the Benevolent Boat Club,” added Ruth ; 
“ but I like the old name better,” 

“Will the boat club and the sewing society 
be the same thing?” asked Mollie Longimore, 
with a troubled expression. 

“ Yes ; have it the same thing,” suggested Eva. 

“ Very well ; change the name from ‘ society ’ 
to ‘ club,’ ” added Minnie. “ Then we shall be 
an association for rowing and doing good to the 
poor.” 

“ But we can’t all engage in the boating part 
of the society’s business,” said Mollie. 

“ Why not? ” asked Nellie, with no little aston- 
ishment. 

“We are not all of us daughters of the nabobs 
of the city,” replied Mollie, with a blush ; for 
though she had courage enough to acknowledge 
the fact, it was no more than human for her to 
feel the distinction between the rich and the 
poor of society. 

Indeed, it is generally the poor who feel it 
more than the rich. 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


25 


“What has that to do with it?” asked Nellie, 
with a merry laugh. 

“ Some of us cannot afford to pay ten dollars 
towards the boat,” said Mollie. 

“We don’t ask anybody to do so,” added 
Minnie. “ The purchase of the boat shall be by 
voluntary contribution. Certainly we shall not 
compel any one to pay anything.” 

“But those who do not pay anything will 
not feel like taking places in the boat,” argued 
Mollie. 

“ But they must be made to feel Jike it,” per- 
sisted Nellie, warmly. “It is no virtue on the 
part of any member that her father happens to 
be rich ; and I am sure the Dorcas Society has 
always been as democratic as anything could be. 
I don’t think any one of us ever thought whether 
a girl’s father was rich or poor. Perhaps our 
fathers and mothers will not approve of our get- 
ting the boat.” 

“ O, I know they will ! ” exclaimed Eva. 

“ We can ascertain before the next meeting,” 
said Minnie. 

“ But Mollie has almost frightened me out of 
the idea of having a boat,” continued Nellie, 


26 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


seriously. “ I wouldn’t have anything like an 
aristocracy in the club, or any feeling that one 
is better or richer than another. If we have a 
boat, she must be as much for one as for another. 

I wish some one would make us a present of 
the boat, so as to save us from this difficulty.” 

“ Perhaps some one would, if people knew 
that we wanted a boat,” suggested Ruth. 

“We don’t care to beg, or hint our wishes,” 
added Minnie. “ But it can be managed in some 
way. Do you suppose girls can keep a secret?’' 

“ I know they can,” laughed Eva. “ I am 
more afraid of Mercury than I am of the girls.” 

“ Miss President, I will never open my mouth, 
except to eat, outside of the lodge,” protested 
Prince, who had returned. 

“ Lodge ! ” exclaimed the girls. 

“If you are going to have a secret society, it 
will be a lodge,” added the messenger. 

“ But we only want to keep the secret from 
each other. We don’t want it to be known who 
contributes for the boat,” explained Minnie. 

“ I can manage that nicely,” said Nellie, going 
to the book-case in the room and taking there- 
from a package of plain white envelopes, and 
giving them out, one to each member. 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


27 


‘ What’s that for?” asked Minnie. 

I will tell you,” answered Nellie, seating 
herself again. “ Each girl shall give the envel- 
ope to her father, explaining to him that we 
desire to purchase the boat without any of our 
members knowing who pays for it. She shall 
tell her father that no one must contribute a 
dojlar unless he feels able to do so, and no one 
is to know whether he gives anything or not ; 
and he must be pledged not to tell of it him- 
self. Whatever he is willing to contribute, ho 
must put into the envelope, seal it up, and give 
it to his daughter, who shall hand it to the 
treasurer at the next meeting.” 

“ I beg your pardon. Miss President ; but may 
I be permitted to offer a suggestion?” inter- 
posed Prince, who was quite as much interested 
in the plan as the young ladies. 

“Certainly; go on. Mercury,” replied Minnie. 

“ Any girl can see whether the envelope con- 
tains a bill or not by holding it up to the light. 
Besides, all the girls won’t tell the story in the 
same way ; and if any one forgets part of the 
explanation, the plan would fail. Joe Guilford 
has a printing press and plenty of type. He 


28 


THE DOECAS CLUB. 


publishes the High School Amateur, you know, 
and does job-work besides. Suppose you write 
a circular, explaining the whole plan, print it, 
and put it into the envelope, asking the father 
to return the circular, with his money folded 
into it, in the envelope.” 

“Very good, indeed. Mercury!” replied Min- 
nie ; and the plan was adopted. 

Nellie ]3rc)ceeded to write the circular, which 
was read and amended till it was adopted by 
vote. Prince was appointed to procure the print- 
ing of it. Three days later, the Avork was done, 
the copies enclosed in Avhite envelopes, and given 
to the members. 

The document was headed “ Private and con- 
fidential,” and Joe Guilford was not allowed 
even to keep a copy in his printing office. It 
was A^ery clearly Avritten, and appealed to the 
fathers to whom it Avas addressed to keep the 
secret for the good of all concerned. Those Avho 
did not favor the enterprise, and those who Avere 
unable or unwilling to give to the object, had 
the assurance that no one but themselves would 
knoAv hoAv much they contributed, or if they 
contributed at all, if they concealed the fact 
themselves, as they were requested to do. 


THE DOKCAS CLUB. 29 

Mollie Loiigimore received her envelope, with 
the other members, but she took it with some 
embarrasmeiit. 

“ I don’t feel just right about it, Minnie,” she 
said. “Must I give it to my father?” 

“ There is nothing to compel you to do so,” 
replied the president. 

“ My father is not able to give even a dollar ; 
but he is proud, and he would feel obliged to 
do so, if I gave him the circular,” added Mollie, 
blushing. 

“ Do as you think best, and I will take the 
responsibility, Mollie ; only return the envelope 
at the next meeting, sealed like the others. 

And Mollie decided that she would not even 
tempt her troubled father to contribute a single 
dollar to the boat. As she walked towards 
home, Prince 'Willingood overtook her. 


80 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


CHAPTER II. 

DINNER FOR ONE. 

M OLLIE LONGIMORE was a good girl, 
And if she knew that she was pretty, 
she did not seem to know it. She lived in the 
same street with Prince Willingood, and so it 
happened that they often walked to and from 
school together. It is not certain that they did 
not sometimes walk together by the connivance of 
Prince, though never by that of Mollie. For 
this and some other reasons they were better 
acquainted and more intimate with each other 
than the most of their schoolmates. 

Whether Mollie knew that she was pretty or 
not. Prince had a decided opinion in favor of 
the affirmative of this proposition ; and this may 
be one reason why they so often chanced to get 
home from school at about the same time. Pro- 
bably the young man had no very d'efinite ideas 


THE DOECAS CLUB. 


31 


of love, in relation to the young lady, and had 
not yet made up his mind that he would die 
for Mollie, or even live for her; but he had a 
very high respect, and a very deep regard, for 
her. 

“ I suppose yon have your envelope, Mollie ? ” 
said he, placing himself by her side, though at 
a bashful distance from her. 

“Yes, I have it; but I am not going to give 
it to my father,” replied she, decidedly. 

“Why not?” 

“I don’t think it would be right to do so; 
and Minnie told me to do as I thought best. 
We have had some one sick in the family all 
winter, and father feels very poor.” 

“ What are you going to do with the circu- 
lar?” asked Prince. 

“ I shall return it at the meeting next Tues- 
day. I wish you would keep it for me till that 
time. Prince. I don’t like to carry it home, for 
fear mother or father might see it. The child- 
ren are always poking over my books and 
papers.” 

“ I will keep it, and give it to you when you 
go to the meeting, for I am not Mercury next 


82 


THE DOECAS CLUB. 


time, you know,” replied Prince, as he took the 
envelope and placed it in one of his books. 

“ Thank you. Prince. I wouldn’t have father 
see it for anything, for I am almost sure he 
would feel obliged to give something if he read 
the circular. He has pride enough for a man 
who is worth a hundred thousand dollars. Mother 
told me the other day that I must not ask him 
for any new dress this spring, because he is so 
terribly worried about money matters. But don’t 
you tell anybody what I say, for all the world. 
Prince.” 

‘‘ Certainly not, Mollie.” 

“ I wouldn’t have said anything, but I have 
felt so badly about this circular ever since the 
plan was mentioned. I think I must withdraw 
from the Dorcas Society, for I ought not even 
to pay the dollar a year for my membership. 
Father has grown so pale and thin, worrying 
about the bills he cannot pay, that I am afraid 
he will be sick. Your uncle knows all about his 
affairs, and I suppose you do.” 

“ My uncle 1 ” repeated Prince, and his lips 
seemed to be involuntarily compressed as he 
uttered the words. He don’t tell me about his 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


33 


business ; but I think your father would be less 
miserable if he had some other man for his prin- 
cipal creditor.” 

“ 1 never heard father say anything against 
your uncle.” 

“ Your father is not one of the sort to do 
so.” 

“ He is very patient and uncomplaining, but 
he suffers terribly.” 

At this point of the conversation, they reached 
the house of the cashier, and Mollie parted from 
her friend. Prince crossed the street, and opened 
the broken-down gate of a dilapidated dwelling. 
It looked like the home of poverty ; but it was 
not. It was the smallest and meanest house on 
the street. Prince entered it at the street door, 
and passed into the front apartment, which was 
the sitting-room. Its ragged carpet, its painted 
chairs, scarred by long use, its broken rocking- 
chair, its cheap, rude secretary, the dented, 
smoking stove, were in keeping with the exte- 
rior of the house, and everything within and 
without indicated the meanness of the owner 
and occupant, Mr. Fox Bushwell, the uncle and 
guardian of the young man. 

3 


84 


THE DOKCAS CLUB. 


Prince tossed his books upon a three-legged 
table and j)assed out into the kitchen. It was 
half past two in the afternoon, and, like all 
other school-boys he was hungry. He was a 
growing boy of seventeen, and he was blessed 
with an appetite. Mr. Fox Bushwell did not so 
regard that appetite ; to him it was a curse. 
Even Mrs. Pining, the melancholy housekeeper 
of the establishment, did not view it with favor, 
for it certainly increased the amount, though 
not the variety, of her culinary toils. 

The dinner table standing against the wall, 
with one leaf raised, was waiting the late-comer 
from school. Her employer insisted upon having 
his meal at twelve o’clock, and Mrs. Pining 
groaned at the necessity of keeping Prince’s din- 
ner for him till the middle of the afternoon, as she 
expressed it ; but as she never bestowed any 
extra labor on the hungry boy, he was the prin- 
cipal sufferer under the arrangement. The house- 
keeper placed the dinner on the table, and 
Prince stood in the middle of the room looking 
at the woman and at the food. He did not say 
anything for some time, but it was plain enough 
to Mrs. Pining that thought and feeling were 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


35 


boiling in his mind and heart. Not that he was 
a grumbler or an unreasonable young man ; not 
that he was given to turning up his nose at 
his victuals,” for Prince was easily satisfied, and 
entirely reasonable in his desires. 

We confess that we have some doubts about 
recording the scenes which transpired that after- 
noon in the kitchen and sitting-room of Fox 
Bushwell’s house, lest we should again be charged 
with picturing a hero who rebels against his guar- 
dian, and therefore commits forgery and theft. A 
boy who is bad enough to insist upon liis own 
clear right to decent food, when it is paid for out 
of his own inheritance, — even, when driven to 
desparation, to “ strike out for his rights,” — 
ought to be wicked enough to forge a note or steal 
his friend’s money. Of course boys have no rights 
which a cruel and selfish guardian is bound to 
respect. Of course boys are not capable of 
judging whether they are misused or not ; and 
those who are well treated are sure to imitate 
the example of those who are ill treated, if they 
“strike for their rights.” Even a bright boy 
does not know the difference between right and 
wrong. If he is well clothed, lodged, and fed. 


36 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


he will so confuse and confound things as to 
imagine that he is deprived of the simple com- 
forts of life ! 

Truly it is an awful responsibility which one 
assumes in telling the story of a boy, who under 
any possible circumstances, rebels against his 
guardian ; and before we do so, we must sol- 
emnly appeal to all our boy-readers not to con- 
found their own situation with that of the hero. 
If you dine upon roast beef, roast turkey, chicken 
pie, and similar luxuries every day in the week, 
do not consider yourself starved, and commit 
forgery — we beg of you, boys, don’t do it. If 
you are decently and comfortably clothed, do 
not imagine that you are naked, and break into 
a bank. If you have a nice room at home, with 
a hair mattress to sleep upon, do not allow 
yourself to believe that you have to sleep on 
the hay in the barn, and pick somebody’s pocket. 
If you have kind parents, or even maiden aunts, 
who love you, watch over you, and care for 
you in sickness and in health, though they faith- 
fully rebuke your faults, do not imagine that 
you are tyranized over by cruel guardians, and 
get up a riot in the High School. 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


3T 


Of course boys from tlie age of twelve to 

twenty are utterly incapable of making distinc- 
tions, and must believe, in their own cases, tliat 
they are treated with the utmost severity, if 

their mothers tell tliem not to stay out after 

midnight. They can not tell the difference 

between their own happy lot and that of the 
boy who is kicked and cuffed, starved and ill 
treated in any manner, in the story, even if the 
writer of it uses his utmost ingenuity to make 
out as bad a case as possible for his hero. Of 
course the brighter the boy who lives out his 
real life on Murray Hill, the more likely he is 
to imagine himself the victim of a cruel tyrant. 
We hope the boys will all heed this solemn 
warning : do not strike for liberty until you are 
reasonably sure tliat you are a slave, or in prison, 
or are abused and down-trodden. Feeling con- 
fident that- not a single one of our readers — 
after this admonition — will commit forgery be- 
cause Prince Willingood was ill treated, we will 
go on with the story. 

Mrs. Pining had put the dinner on the table, 
and the young man stood looking at it. Even 
the housekeeper saw that he was dissatisfied. 


38 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


and that he had the manner of one who intended 
misehief. It ought to he said that Prince had 
been a patient sufferer, and up to this time 
had made no trouble in the house. However 
he had felt aggrieved at the diet provided for 
him, he had hardly ever uttered a complaint. 

The dinner set before him consisted of salt 
fish, potatoes, and hard brown bread. The drawn 
butter provided for the fish was very strong of 
warm water, and very strong of butter — not on 
account of the quantity of butter in it, but on 
account of the inherent strength of the butter 
itself. The potatoes, originally boiled, had lat- 
terly been baked till they were of the color and 
consistency of sole leather. Now, if this had 
been an accidental or occasional dinner, on a 
washing, house-cleaning, or other day of domes- 
tic casualities, I am sure that Prince would not 
have felt justified in turning up his nose at the 
fare set before him. 

For our part, we cordially approve a “ Cape 
Cod turkey,” or salt fish dinner, even as often 
as once a week ; but we insist upon the boiled 
beets, egg sauce, and pork scraps, which are as 
much its constituent elements as the fish itself. 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


89 


Yet we could not stand it four times a week 
anj more than Prince Willingood could. The 
staple articles of Fox Pushweirs bill of fare 
were salt fish and baked beans, varied with fresh 
fish — when Prince caught it himself. Once in 
a while the proprietor of the tumble-down house 
bought some corned beef, or “ salt horse,” at 
the ship chandler’s, when it was too poor for 
sailors’ use. 

On this occasion Prince was unusually hungry, 
even for a school-boy. He never carried a lunch- 
eon, as most of his school-mates did, because 
there was nothing in the house to carry but 
brown bread ; and his pride would not permit 
him to eat that in the presence of his school- 
mates, who took sandwitches, pie, cake, and 
doughnuts from their tin boxes. If his friends 
• — and he had plenty of them — had known how 
it was with him, they would have insisted upon 
his partaking of their lunches. 

That morning the oak-leaf tea had been par- 
ticularly bad, even worse than the crust-coffee 
which the housekeeper sometimes made, and the 
herring had been so abominably strong and salt 
that he had gone to school as hungry as when 


40 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


he got up. At half })ast two in the afternoon 
his appetite had not diminished. 

Prince Avas hungry enough to eat salt fish and 
strong butter ; and probably he would have done 
so if he had not been considering the situation, 
and come to the conclusion that it was not his 
duty to submit to semi-starvation. He had made 
up his mind that he could not stand it any 
longer, even if the flesh was Avilling. He had 
no chance to earn any money, with Avhich to 
improve his diet, or he would have done so. 
More than this, he was laboring under the belief 
that his uncle’s treatment of him was a personal 
outrage — for this young man of seventeen was 
heir of over twenty thousand dollars, left him 
by his father, which yielded an income of 
at least twelve hundred a year. He had been 
an only child, and his parents had both died 
Avhen he Avas quite young. They had lived in 
another part of the state ; and though the boy’s 
mother Avas Fox Bushwell’s sister, neither she 
nor her husband seemed to have fathomed his 
meanness, for Mr. Willingood had made him the 
executor of his Avill, the trustee of his property, 
and the guardian of the child. A more unfit 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


41 


person could not possibly have been selected for 
either of these charges. 

In justice to Prince’s father, it should be said 
that Fox Bushwell had been growing meaner, 
more sordid, and more dishoilest every day for 
the last dozen years, or since the death of his 
wife, who was a good woman, and exercised a 
salutary influence over him. For a couple of 
years after Prince was brought to the house of 
his uncle, the child had the kindly care of Mrs. 
Bushwell ; but after her death he had really 
been alone in the world, till he made friends for 
himself outside of his cold and comfortless home. 
By the terms of his father’s will he was to 
receive the best education the town and High 
Schools could afford ; and this was doubtless the 
only reason why he was permitted to attend 
school up to the age of seventeen. 

Prince looked at the dinner on the table, and 
rebelled against it. Perhaps it were better to 
eat salt fish for dinner for the fourth time that 
week than to go hungry ; and if that had been 
the alternative, he would have eaten it. As it 
was, he would not. 

“ Have you anything else for my dinner, Mrs. 


42 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


Pining ? ” Prince began, as gently as he could. 

‘‘ Lud a massy ! What a world of trouble we 
live in ! Ain’t that enough for you ? ” demanded 
the amazed housekeeper. 

“ I’m tired of salt fish, especially when the 
potatoes are all burned up, and the gravy is 
nothing but water,” replied Prince. 

“What on airth are we cornin’ to?” 

“ Coming to dinner, I hope. No more salt 
fish for me — at least not more than once a 
week.” 

“ This is a world of sin and sorrow,” groaned 
the widow Pining. “We are all dyin’, perishin’ 
mortals, and can’t eat salt fish ! ” 

“ I can’t eat any more of it,” said Prince, as 
he took a butcher-knife from the tray, and 
passed out into the back room. 

“What on airth’s got into the boy?” moaned 
Mrs. Pining. “Is he goin' to kill hisself ? ” 

She followed the desperate young man. But 
Prince had not the remotest idea of committing 
suicide. He was too sensible a fellow to do 
anything of the kind. Probably he would not 
have thought of refusing to eat the salt fish, if 
he had not known of something better to do. 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


4B 


Late in the fall of the year before, Fox Bush- 
well had killed a hog, which he had kept in 
defiance of the public sentiment of this locality, 
and of the public health. He had sold all the 
best part of it, except the ham, which hung in 
the back room, smoked and ready for use. Why 
he had kept it he could not liave told if he liad 
been pressed for an answer. Certainly he liad 
not meant to eat it himself, or to permit the 
other members of his family to do so ; at least 
he had not allowed any such extravagance so far, 
and it was contrary to his nature to do it in 
the future. 

Prince jumped upon a wash-bench, and took 
the ham from its roost on the nail. He laid it 
upon the bench, and felt of the edge of the 
knife. Doubtless his mouth watered as he 
thought of making his dinner from such a 
savory dish as fried ham. He had no remem- 
brance of ever having tasted such a luxury at 
home, though he had several times cooked and 
eaten it on board the yachts, when he had prac- 
ticed the culinary art under the instruction of 
Morris Hollinghead, the most celebrated cook in 
the fleet. 


44 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


“ What on airtli are you goiii’ to do, Prince 
Willingood ? ” cried Mrs. Pining, amazed and 
Jiorrified at the actions of the young man. 

“ Pm going to have some dinner,” replied he, 
>'AS coolly as he could speak, at the same time 
tutting off a slice of the ham. 

“But, stop! World of sin and sorrer ! What 
wiA your uncle say ? ” 

“ He can say anything he ^deases. I’m going 
to have some dinner for once in my life, if I 
have to fight for it ; ” and Prince cut off another 
of the small slices. 

“ Heavens and airth ! Mr. Bushwell will kill 
^^ou, and kill me, too, if I don’t stop this shame- 
ful waste.” 

“ Don’t you meddle. I do it myself ; and I 
don’t ask you even to look on. If you inter- 
fere, I shall fight — that’s all.” 

“ Lud sakes alive ! I’m a poor creeter, in a 
dyin’, perishing world I ” 

“ That’s so,” added Prince ; and he continued 
to cut off the small slices till he thought he had 
enough ; and most people would have thought 
he was getting up a dinner for four. 

Then he i)roceeded to trim off the slices till 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 45 

they were clean and nice, as he used to prepare 
them on board of the yachts. 

“It’s wicked, Prince, in this sufferin’, dyin’ 
world, to waste all that good bacon. What do 
you cut all that off for ? ” asked the house- 
keeper. 

“ That’s the way to fix it.” 

“ No, ’tain’t. You waste more’n half on’t.” 

“ I can’t help it. That dirty, black outside 
isn’t fit to eat.” 

“ In all my born days, I never seed nobody 
so diffikilt. What’s the world cornin’ to ? ” 

“ I don’t know what it’s coming to. I don’t 
know that I care.” 

“ What will your uncle say? ” 

“ You know what he will say, and so do I ; 
but I’m ready to face the music,” added Prince, 
as he threw the slices into a spider that hung 
in the back room. 

Taking an armful of wood and the cooking 
utensil, he returned to the kitchen. Starting up 
the fire, he prepared for still more active oper- 
ations, watched all the .time by the housekeeper. 
In a few moments the ham was hissing and siz- 
zling in the spider, sending forth a rich odor. 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


4G 

such as had not gladdened the interior of Fox 
Bushwell’s house for many a year. 

“We are all goin’ to perdition!” sighed the 
widow Pining. 

“ If we are, I’m going on a full stomach,” 
replied Prince, as he turned the ham, which 
caused it to redouble its music. 

“You will be the ruin of us all. Prince. 
This dyin’, sufferin’ world is no place for such 
folks as you be. Your appetite will be the 
death of you.” 

“ I’m afraid it will, if I don’t do something 
to satisfy it.” 

Prince wanted to go to the closet and get 
some cold potatoes to fry with the ham, for he 
knew there must be some there for the fish-hash 
the next morning, which as surely followed the 
salt fish dinner as the rising follows the setting 
sun ; but he was afraid, ' if he left his dinner, 
the housekeeper would carry it off. However, 
to prevent such a catastrophe, he bore the 
spider to the closet with him, and there sliced 
into it three or four good-sized potatoes. 

“ Lud sakes,” groaned Mrs. Pining ; “ there’ll 
be nothing for breakfast in the house, if you use 
up all them potaters.” 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


47 


“ ‘ Sufficient unto the clay is the evil thereof,” 
replied Prince, as he cli.shed up the ham, and 
proceeded to cook the potatoes. 

In a few moments they were done, and the 
hungry young man sat down at the table, with 
the savory dinner before him. The thought of 
the consequences of his rash deed did not seem 
to diminish his appetite, and he ate like one 
who had not tasted food for twenty-four hours, 
which was almost literally the case with him. 
The widow Pining was too much excited to sit 
down, and she stood by the table, her face the 
very picture of horror and dismay, while Prince 
devoured slice after slice of the ham, and half 
after half of the potatoes. Doubtless he ate all 
he could ; but he was not quite able to “ pun- 
ish ” all he had cooked. 

“ I feel better,” said he, rising from the table. 
“I will finish what there is left in the morn- 
ing.” 

“ I shouldn’t think you’d be able to go. Suf- 
• ferin’ and dyin’ world ! To think what a lot 
of that nice bacon you’ve wasted ! I know your 
uncle was goin’ to sell it,” added the house- 
keeper. ‘‘Well, it’s a wicked world we live ini 


48 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


There ain’t no such thing as gratitude in’t. I 
didn’t think you’d do sech a thing as steal that 
bacon, and waste sech a lot on’t too ’ ” 

“ I saved my bacon ; that’s the whole of it, 
Mrs. Pining.” 

At that moment the front door opened, and 
the step of Fox Bush well was heard and recog- 
nized. 

“Now you’ll ketch it. Prince Willingood ! ” 
said the housekeeper, in a low and impressive 
tone. 

“ I’m ready,” answered the young man, as he 
strained up his nerves to meet the onslaught. 

Fox Bushwell canito into the kitchen at once. 
He came snuffing with his peaked nose, as though 
he smelt something. Perhaps he “ smelt a rat,” 
as well as fried ham. 

“ What’s this smell all over the house ? ” he 
demanded, in his whining, high treble voice. 

At that moment his eyes rested on the rem- 
nants of Prince’s feast on the table, and his 
thin, hatchety face contracted into an agglom- 
eration of frowns, which were intended to anni- 
hilate the woe-begone housekeeper, to whom his 
glance was directed. 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


49 


CHAPTER III. 

THE BATTLE FOUGHT AND WON. 

M r. fox BUSHWELL was fifty-five years 
old, but he was thin, gray, and wrinkled 
enough to be seventy-five. From the force of 
habit rather than in deference to the decencies of 
life, he shaved his furrowed face twice a week, 
leaving the wiry white beard under his chin and 
beneath his jaws. His hair, of the same color, 
was generally very long, because it cost money 
to cut it, since the removal to distant parts of 
a cousin, who used to do the job gratuitously, with 
the sheep-shears. We do not like to say it, but 
tliis man had formerly been a preacher. He had 
picked up education enough to enable him to 
obtain a license. He had been regularly settled 
in a small place ; but a pastorate of two years 
had convinced his people that the Rev. Fox 
Bush well had missed his calling ; that his piety 
4 


50 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


was a pretence, and his life a mockery of his 
preaching. 

For a few years more he supplied vacant pul- 
pits as occasion offered ; but then his father died, 
and left him ten thousand dollars, a like sum 
passing to his only sister. Prince’s mother. He 
already owned the small house in which he 
lived, and the large lot of land on which it 
stood. This territory he sold in small parcels, 
as the growth of the city increased the value of 
the lots. Events led him to become a money- 
lender. He would sell a lot, and advance money 
to the purchaser to build a house upon it, taking 
a mortgage on the whole for security. He was 
a hard man, and scrupled not to take advantage 
of the needy, extorting extravagant interest, and 
taking possession of mortgaged property upon 
the slightest failure to comply wtih the condi- 
tions. It cost him next to nothing to live, for 
he believed that money spent upon the body was 
wasted. 

The patrimony of his nephew enlarged his cap- 
ital upon which to speculate on the wants of 
the needy; and, though he made it pay eight, 
ten, or twelve per cent., he returned only legal 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


51 


interest on his accounts. As a mean man becomes 
meaner as he grows older, Fox Bushwell, when 
he was fifty, was a miser, a skinflint, an extor- 
tionist, and a thief. This was simply describing 
him as he was, and as we knew him — for he 
is not a fancy sketch. He had sold some of the 
houses in his street two or three times, for non- 
payment of interest or principal. Of course he 
was generally hated and despised by those who 
had any dealings with him. 

At the death of his wife, he had procured the 
services of Mrs. Pining as housekeeper. She 
was not much more than half-witted, but she 
had loaned a few hundred dollars to her em- 
ployer, — her dowry from her late husband’s 
estate, — the interest of which was her only 
income, for Fox Bushwell paid her no wages. 
The poor woman was as credulous as she was 
simple, and had been kept in her place by 
mingled hope and fear. She had somehow ob- 
tained the notion that the money-lender intended 
to marry her. Doubtless something to this effect 
had been said by him ; at any rate, he was care- 
ful to keep alive the delusion. This was her 
hope ; and she feared if she left her situation 


62 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


her tyrant would cheat her out of her little for- 
tune, thus leaving her a begger in “ this suf- 
ferin’, dyin’ world.” This woman, with her 
hopes and fears, had had the principal care of 
Prince Willingood from his childhood. 

The property of the young man was charged 
five dollars a week for his board ; and this sum 
more than paid the whole living expenses of the 
family. Fox Bush well purchased his clothing, 
which Avas of the plainest and homeliest quality. 
Altogether the young man’s expenses were not 
more than four hundred a year, leaving a sur- 
plus of twice that amount from his income. Not 
till just before his introduction to the reader had 
Prince considered his financial relations to his 
uncle. In fact he knew nothing about them till 
by diligent inquiry he obtained the information, 
Avith the assistance of friends, from the records 
of the Probate Court. As has been stated before, 
he had come to the conclusion that he was en- 
titled to fare better than he did, and even to 
have an occasional dollar for pocket money, 
as other boys of his age had. 

Fox Bush well stood in the kitchen, gazing at 
the remnants of his Avard’s dinner. The odor of 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


53 


fried ham was as much unknown in that house 
as though its inmates had been true followers 
of Mohammed, the prophet of Islam. The skin- 
flint was amazed and horrified, and turned his 
gaze to Mrs. Pining. 

“ What does this mean ? ” he demanded, in 
the husky tones he might have used if a mur- 
der had been committed in his house. 

“ ’Tain’t none of my doin’s,” pleaded the 
housekeeper. “ Look here, Mr. Bush well ; and 
she led the way to the back room, where she 
pointed with horror, and in significant silence, 
at the leg of ham lying on the wash-bench, just 
as Prince had left it, with the rind and parings 
at its side. 

“Who cut that ham?” growled the miser. 

“ Sufferin’, dyin’ world knows I hadn’t nothin’ 
to do with it,” groaned Mrs. Pining. 

“Who did it, then?” 

The widow Pining pointed silently in the 
dii-ection of the kitchen, whither Fox Bushwell 
instantly returned. 

“ Did you cut that ham. Prince ? ” he demanded, 
with a scowl which only a mortal sin ought to 
have conjured upon a human face. 


54 


THE DOECAS CLUB. 


“ I did,” replied Prince, squarely. 

“ You did?” 

Prince nodded. 

“What made you do it?” continued the 
guardian, confounded by the coolness and self- 
possession of the young man. 

“ I Avanted some dinner.” 

“Dinner! Didn’t you have your dinner of 
salt fish and potatoes, as I did?” 

“ Sufferin’, dyin’ world ! He had just the same 
as the rest on us,” added Mrs. Pining. “ I kept 
his dinner for him, as I allers does ; and it was 
good strong victuals for anybody, and enough 
on’t.” 

“ It Avas strong of bad butter, I grant,” replied 
Prince. “I am so tired of salt fish that I can’t 
eat any more of it. I have tried to eat it ; but 
I can’t stand it any longer.” 

“You can’t?” gasped Fox Bush well. 

“No, sir, I cannot. It is salt fish for break- 
fast and salt fish for dinner more than half the 
time ; and when it isn’t salt fish, it is smoked 
herring or baked beans. The poorest common 
laborer in the city lives better than I do, and 
better than you do, uncle Fox.” 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


55 


Don’t you have enough to eat ” 

“ I don’t complain so much of the quantity as 
I do of the quality. It don’t matter how much 
there is on the table, when it is so poor that I 
can’t eat it.” 

“Indeed! Has it come to this?” said the 
uncle, severely. 

“ It has come to this. My dinner to-day was 
salt fish, with potatoes cooked to a chip, with 
drawn butter mostly water, but so strong at that 
I could not bear the smell, much less the taste, 
of it,” continued Prince, calmly. “For break- 
fast I had a thin smoked herring, so salt and 
strong I could not eat it. I had hardly tasted 
anything since dinner yesterday, when I came 
into the house this afternoon.” 

“ You are getting dainty,” sneered Fox Bush- 
well. 

“ I don’t think I am. But whether I am or 
not, I shall stand this thing no longer.’ 

“You won’t?” 

“No, sir.” 

“ We’ll see.” 

“ Both of us will see.” 

There was something in the tone and manner 


6 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


of the young man which made an impression on 
the miser. 

“ And you cut that ham which I have been 
saving all winter?” he added. 

‘‘I did.” 

“Is that ham yours?” 

“ While it is in the house where I board I 
claim an interest in it.” 

“ You’ve got to eat what’s set before you ; and 
you haven’t any right to touch anything else. 
That ham belongs to me, and when you took it 
you stole it,” said Fox Bushwell, warmly and 
sternly. 

“ I should like to be taken up for stealing it, 
I should like to tell the justice all about it, and 
read to him our bill of fare for any week in 
the year,” replied Prince. “We might as well 
have this matter understood now. You receive 
five dollars a week for my board 

“Who told you that?” demanded the guar- 
dian, evidently startled by the statement. 

“ I got it from good authority.” 

“ I can charge anything I please, and the 
judge can allow it or not, just a he likes.” 

“Five dollars a week is the price you said 
you should charge. I can prove this.’ 


THE DOKCAS CLUB. 


57 


‘ Well, it’s cheap for taking care of a boy, 
and looking after his washing and mending, his 
manners and his morals. 

“ Never mind the manners or the morals. It 
don’t cost you much to attend to them. For 
the sum I pay, I am entitled to as good hoard 
as mechanics and laborers have at the same 
price. If you will pay my board in a sailor’s 
boarding-house, I will be satisfied.” 

“ I shall do nothing of the sort,” protested 
Fox BushweU. “ I give you enough to eat, and 
that which is good enough.” 

“ I don’t think so ; and something must be done 
about it.” 

“You want to run away — do you?” 

“No, sir, I do not. I have no intention of 
running away.” 

Fox BushweU wished he would run away, and 
never return; it would simplify his accounts as 
trustee of the boy’s property. 

“You live as well as I do ; and what’s good 
enough for me is good enough for you.” 

“ I don’t think so.” 

“ I don’t care what you think. But what I 
have in the house hereafter, I shall keep under 
lock and key.” 


58 


THE DOECAS CLUB. 


“ My father left twenty thousand dollars to 
me, in your care. By this time, taking out all 
my expense, it ought to he at least thirty thou- 
sand, at simple interest, six per cent. My income 
to-day ought to be eighteen hundred dollars ; 
and I have to live, week in and week out, year 
in and year out, on salt fish, smoked herring, 
baked beans, brown bread, and strong butter.” 

“ The living is good enough for me, and so it 
is for you,” muttered the uncle, amazed to find 
that his ward knew something about his own 
finances. 

“We differ; and as the income of my prop- 
erty is eighteen hundred dollars a year, I insist 
on something better, whether I have it in this 
house, or some other. More than this, being 
seventeen years old, I want a little money to 
spend myself.’ 

“You do ! ” exclaimed Fox Bush well, aghast at 
such unheard-of impudence. 

“ I do. As the matter stands now, I can't 
buy a sheet of paper, a pencil, or a book.” 

“ I have bought all those things for you.” 

“You refused to buy four books for me the 
other day, when I asked for them.’ 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


59 


“You didn’t need them.” 

“I wanted them, and I think I am able to 
own those, and many more.” 

I can’t countenance no such extravagance. 
It isn’t necessary for you to own books of his- 
tory.” 

“We differ, and I may as well come to the 
point. I am going to live decently — I mean as 
well as laborers and sailors live. If my break- 
fast to-morrow morning should be salt fish, or 
herring, or baked beans, I shall get my meal at 
the eating-house, and have it charged to you as 
my guardian.” 

“I won’t pay it!” protested Fox Bushwell. 

“ Perhaps you will in the end. At any rate, 
Hoxley says he will take his chances of collect- 
ing the bill.” 

“ Have you been telling Hoxley that you 
havn’t lived well enough at home ? ” demanded 
the guardian, angrily. 

“Sufferin’, dyin’ world! ” ejaculated Mrs. Pin- 
ing, moved deeply by this new aspect of the 
case. 

“ It was not necessary to tell him or anybody 
else that we live worse than the Irish laborers. 


60 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


Everybody knows it. In the second place, 1 
want an allowance of ten dollars a month, for the 
present, to purchase books and other things that 
I need.” 

“ Ten dollars a month ! Are you crazy, 
Prince?” cried Fox Bushwell. “Ten dollars a 
month to a boy of your age ! I didn’t think 
you could be impudent enough to ask for more 
than twenty-five cents a month, at the out- 
side.” 

“Ten dollars I ask for, and ten dollars I shall 
have, besides decent board.” 

“ The boy’s insane ! ” 

“ Sufferin’, dyin’ world 1 ” groaned the widow. 

“ It’s no use for you and me to argue the 
point ; we can never agree.” 

“Never! You won’t get any ten dollars a 
month out of me, nor ten dollars a year. That’s 
the way to spoil boys.” 

“ And the board, as the allowance, is denied ? 
Shall I be fed as well as common sailors?” 

“ I’m not going to have any extravagance in 
my house.” 

“Very well, uncle Fox; it is my next move,” 
replied Prince, rising from his chair. 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


61 


“What are you going to do?” asked the 
guardian, evidently much troubled by the con- 
duct of the boy. 

“ I don’t know that it is necessary for me to 
tell you ; but I’m going to do something imme- 
diately.” 

“Humph! What can you do? I’m your 
guardian.” 

“ I know you are ; but you may not always 
be.” 

“ What ! ” 

“ I don’t believe that in this free country a 
boy who has, or ought to have, an income of 
eighteen hundred dollars a year, can be legally 
starved, or half starved, and deprived of the 
common comforts of life, uncle Fox ! I don’t 
believe it. I don’t believe that I can even be 
deprived of the luxury of books. I’m rich enough 
to board at the best hotel in the city ; but I ask 
only plain food.” 

Fox Bushwell drew a long breath, and perhaps 
his thin face was a shade paler than usual, 
though that was hardly possible. 

“ I don’t know what you mean to do,” whined 
he, alarmed at the prospect of any possible action 
on the part of the boy or his friends. 


62 


THE DOECAS CLUB. 


“ I haven’t talked about this matter much out 
of the house ; my pride would not let me do 
that. I don’t want to make any trouble now ; 
but I won’t stand this state of things much 
longer. No, sir, I will not.” 

“ Things have gone on just as they always 
did ; and I didn’t know there was any trouble.” 

“Very well, uncle; if you are disposed to do 
the right thing by me, the matter need go no 
farther,” added Prince, gently. 

“ But ten dollars a month to spend ! ” gasped 
the guardian. 

“ For books and other things I need. I don’t 
smoke, chew, drink rum, or play cards ; and 
not a cent of the money will be improperly 
used.” 

“ It would spoil you.” 

“ I don’t think so. I am old enough to know 
how to use a small sum of money.” 

“ If you don’t drink or smoke, it’s because 
you never had any money to pay for cigars and 
rum.” 

“We won’t argue the matter on such a basis. 
If you have nothing else to say, I shall take the 
next step.” 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


63 


“ What do you mean ? ” demanded Fox Bush- 
well, anxiously. 

Prince considered a moment, and then took 
from his pocket a paper, which he handed to 
his guardian. 

“ What’s this ? ” said the uncle. 

“ It will speak for itself.” 

Fox Bush well put on his spectacles, and pro- 
ceeded to read the document. As he did so, his 
lip quivered and his frame trembled. Probably 
the paper was not in legal form, but it was a 
petition to the judge of the probate court, set- 
ting forth that the petitioner’s guardian — Fox 
Bush well — had become evidently unsuitable to 
discharge the duties of the position, requesting 
his removal, and the appointment of some proper 
person in his place. The petitioner then pro- 
ceeded to specify in detail that he was deprived 
of the ordinary comforts of life ; that he was 
compelled to subsist almost wholly upon salt 
fish, baked beans, and smoked herrings ; that he 
was clothed with the coarsest garments, much 
inferior to those worn by persons of his income, 
and he was denied the privilege of purchasing 
any books or newspapers needed for the proper 


64 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


cultivation of his mind, while the property in 
the hands of his guardian yielded, or ought to 
yield, an income of eighteen hundred dollars a 
year. 

“You villain ! What do you mean to do with 
this paper ? ” gasped the guardian, trembling in 
every fibre of his frame. 

“ I intend to present it to the court,” replied 
Prince, quietly. 

“You do?” 

“ I do, sir. I don’t mean to strike for liberty 
and decent living on my own hook. I am will- 
ing to leave the whole matter to the judge. I 
am willing to submit to him, and to the guar- 
dian he appoints. If he says it is all right as 
it is, I have nothing more to say.” 

“ Do you mean to give this to the judge ? ” 

“ Of course I do, if I can’t have fair play 
without doing so.” 

Fox Bush well was furious for the moment, 
and tearing the paper into a hundred pieces, he 
threw them into the stove. 

“We’ll see if you will,” gasped he. 

“ That was only a copy of the petition,” added 
Prince, mildly. 


THE DOECAS CLUB. 


65 


The guardian cooled off again, realizing that 
he was utterly helpless against the strong-minded 
young man, who seemed to act with a conscious- 
ness that hoys have rights. 

“ Don’t do anything rash. Prince,” said he. 
“ I will think over what you have said.” 

“ You may think over it till next Monday 
morning. The court meets in the afternoon ; 
and my paper goes in then, if at all,” replied 
Prince. 

Fox Bushwell went into the front room, where 
he paced the apartment for hours, thinking over 
the situation. Prince spent the evening in the 
kitchen, studying his lessons. When he got up, 
rather later than usual, the next morning, the 
grateful odor of fried ham saluted his senses, 
and he was almost willing to believe that he 
had won the battle. For his dinner that day, 
he was rather surprised to see some fried mutton 
set before him. It was cheap and poor meat, it 
is true ; but it was a luxury to him. 

On Monday morning his uncle gave him a 
ten-doUar bill ; but he did it with groanings and 
reproaches. Prince took the bill, and enclosed 
it in the white envelope which Mollie had in- 
5 


66 


THE DOECAS CLUB. 


trusted to his keeping, and carefully sealed it. 
At school that day, she handed it to the treas- 
urer, without suspecting that there was any- 
thing hut the circular in it. She did not even 
ask Prince why he had sealed it ; she did not 
think enough about it to do so. 

“ But the envelopes are to be handed in at the 
meeting to-morrow,” said Nellie Patterdale, the 
treasurer. 

“ Please to take it now, for I may not be at 
the meeting,” replied Mollie. 

“ O, very well, if you desire it ; but I hope 
you will be there.” 

“I shall try to be present.” 

But she was not. 

Great events occurred on that particular Mon- 
day, and on Tuesday Mollie did not even think 
of the meeting. Poor girl ! she had enough else 
to think of. 

In the middle of the afternoon Mr. Longimore, 
he cashier, called upon Fox Bushwell. Even 
the hard-visaged miser saw that he was in the 
deepest distress. 

“ Mr. Bushwell, I am in trouble, and I must 
raise some money before to-morrow morning, or 
be ruined,” said the cashier, with emotion-. 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


6T 

“Ruined! What’s the matter?” asked the 
money-lender, willing, as usual, to profit by 
whatever misfortune had overtaken his neighbor. 

“ I am in the most abject misery to which a 
man was ever reduced,” groaned Mr. Longimore. 

“ Eh ? Been using the money of the bank ? ” 
added the miser, looking over the top of his 
glasses. 

“ I have overdrawn my account. I have not 
stolen anything. I have not altered the books, 
but have charged myself every dollar I have 
taken. I must have five hundred and twenty 
dollars to balance my account, or I shall lose my 
situation. The directors make an examination 
to-morrow.” 

“That’s bad.” 

“ You have the money in the bank, and you 
will lend it to me ? ” 

“ Without security ? ” 

“ Take my house, my furniture, everything, 
if I can save my honor,” pleaded Mr. Longi- 
more. 

“ I’ve got all the mortgage on the house I 
want; and I’ve got to go away now.” 

“ I will pay you any interest you want. Only 


68 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


lend it to me for a few days, and I will appeal 
to my brother in Portland for help ; he will save 
me from ruin, I know.” 

“ I can’t stop now to talk about it. I will 
see you this evening,” said Fox Bush well, rising 
from his chair. 

“I will come here — ” 

“ Well, no, I guess not,” interposed the 
money-lender. “ My boy will be in the house 
then ; and he is always sure to know what’s go- 
ing on.” 

“ Come to the bank, then ; I will be there,” 
added Mr. Longimore, earnestly. 

“ I will be there about seven o’clock.” 

The cashier withdrew ; and at the hour ap- 
pointed, Fox Bushwell’ entered the bank. 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


69 


CHAPTER IV. 

THE FIRE AT FOX BUSHWELL’s HOUSE. 

R. LONGIMORE was a rather tall and 



.. V i spare man. Though but five and forty 
years old, he was quite gray, and his expression 
at this time was very sad and troubled. He 
had been struggling to support his family on a 
small salary, and it was apparent to him now, 
if never before, that he had signally failed. 
Doubtless he had his faults and his weaknesses ; 
but he had always been regarded by the com- 
munity in which he resided as a strictly honest, 
high-toned, and honorable man. He stood well 
in the church, and well in society ; and so far 
as the possibilities of any disgraceful conduct 
were concerned, he was considered as incapable 
of it as any clergyman in the city. 

Perhaps it was a misfortune for Mr. Longi- 
more that his position in the bank brought him 


70 


THE DOECAS CLUB. 


into contact with the elite of the city ; with the 
prosperous merchants, ship- builders, and the 
wealthy men avIio had retired from business. He 
was respected and esteemed by all, and the cashier 
and his family Avere, to some extent, draAvn into 
social relations Avith the Avealthy and refined 
class of society. Without intending to exceed 
his income in his expenditures, Mr. Longimore 
had unfortunately been led to do so, and much 
sickness at home had increased his debt. He 
had overdraAvn his salary at the bank ; but then 
he had faithfully charged himself Avith every dol- 
lar he had taken, and there was no fraud, or 
even concealment, on his part. Mr. Longimore 
was a proud man, and he could not endure the 
thought of seeing a froAvn upon the brows of 
the directors Avhen they examined his accounts and 
looked over his securites. He could not bear to 
be censured, even mildly, by the men with whom 
he Avas on such friendly terms. He preferred 
to throAV himself into the poAver of the unscru- 
pulous money-lender, rather than make a candid 
but humiliating statement to the directors, Avho 
were really his friends. 

Mr. Longimore had bought the house in which 



We’ll see if you will,” gasped he. Pag 








THE DOBCAS CLUB. 71 

he lived of Fox Bushwell, paying five hundred 
dollars down, and giving a mortgage for twenty- 
five hundred. But the property was supposed 
to have increased in value, and the cashier hoped 
to obtain the sum he needed by a second mort- 
gage on the house, or on his personal effects, 
if the money-lender would not advance him the 
money he wanted for a short time without secu- 
rity. He had often assisted the miser in the 
management of his affairs, had examined his 
bonds, mortgages, and other papers, to insure 
their correctness, thus saving him the expense 
of legal fees. He had filed all his papers for 
him in the nice and convenient form in which 
those of the bank were arranged, and he felt 
that he had some claim to the consideration of 
the hard man. 

The cashier was in the bank when Fox Bush- 
well arrived. He had been cutting off the cou- 
pons of a package of bonds, and was tying up 
the bundle with red tape when his visitor came 
in. He looked more worried and disturbed than 
the money-lender had ever seen him. 

“ What have you got there ? ” asked Fox Bush- 
well. 


72 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


“ Bonds ; the interest is due to-morrow, and I 
have cut off the coupons, i;i order to send them 
for collection,” replied Mr. Longimore, rather 
vacantly. “ Thought I would do it while I was 
waiting for you, for I shall be very busy to- 
morrow.” 

“How much is there in that pile?” asked 
the money-lender, as he seated himself at the 
table opposite the cashier. 

“ Only forty thousand dollars.” 

“That’s a good deal of money,” added Fox 
Bush well as he picked up the package. 

“ I should think it was if it only belonged tome,” 
replied Mr. Longimore, with a sigh. “ I vshould 
be a happy man if I had only a quarter of it. 
I have already told you why I wish to see you, 
Mr. Bushwell.” 

“Well, you have, but I don’t understand the 
matter very well,” added the miser, still toying 
with the bundle of bonds. “ I believe you said 
you wanted to raise some money.” 

“ I must have five hundred and twenty dol- 
lars by to-morrow morning, or I am a ruined 
man. I did not know how badly I stood with 
the bank till I balanced my account this after- 


noon. 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


73 


“I don’t see how we can manage it,” said 
Fox Bushwell. “ Of course 1 can’t lend money 
without security.” 

“ I will give you a second mortgage on my 
house. The equity in it is worth a thousand 
dollars.” 

“I guess not,” drawled the Shy lock, with a 
sickly smile. “ I don’t believe it would fetch 
any more than the mortgage under the ham- 
mer.” 

“ 1 am sure it would. I have been offered 
more than I gave for it.” 

“ The place wouldn’t fetch it now, and in a 
year or two it might be worse than it is now. 
I don’t like to take too much on any property. 
I’m a poor man, and I have to keep on the safe 
side.” 

“ Then I will give you a bill of sale of my 
household furniture, including the piano, worth 
in all, at least a thousand dollars,” pleaded Mr. 
Longimore, actually trembling with emotion. 

“I don’t hke that kind of security,” replied 
Fox Bushwell, shaking his head. 

“ But I will write to my brother in Portland 
immediately ; he is able and wilUng to help me 


74 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


out of this trouble ; and I will return the money 
in a few days with an ample bonus. I will give 
you fifty dollars for the use of the sum I want 
one week.” 

‘‘Yes; but the security? If you should die, 
you know. We all mean to be honest and serve 
the Lord as well as we know how, but any of 
us may die.” 

“ The bill of sale of my furniture will cover 
it, and save you from any possible loss. If I 
should die, my wife would pay the debt out of 
the proceeds of my life insurance,” continued 
Mr. Longimore, desperately, and with the agony 
which an honest, honorable man feels in the face 
of probable disgrace. 

“ All these things are very uncertain. I don’t 
Like to lend money without knowing whether it 
is coming back to me or not. I’m a poor man, 
and the loss of five hundred and twenty dollars 
would ruin me. I’m older than you are, and I 
don’t want to be a beggar at my time of lif6. 
I’ll let you have the money you want for one 
week, and won’t ask you any more than the 
fifty dollars you offer for the use of it, though 
it is cheap, considering the risk I run.” 


THE DORCAS CLTTB. 


75 


“You will run no risk, Mr. Busliwell.” 

“Certainly 1 do run a great risk — too great 
for a poor man like me to take. It makes me 
shudder to think of being a beggar after I’m too 
old to preach or to work. I can’t lend money 
on any such conditions ; but I’ll tell you what I 
will do.” 

“Well, what? Anything I can do I will do,” 
said Mr. Longimore, catching at the hope thus 
held out by the money-lender, who was still 
holding the package of bonds in his hand. 

“ These are thousand dollar bonds, I suppose ? ” 
asked Fox Bushwell, craftily. 

“ They are.” 

“ Give me your note for five hundred and 
seventy dollars, payable in one week, and I’ll 
let you have my check for the amount you want 
to get you out of this difficulty,” 

“ I will do it ! ” exclaimed the cashier, promptly. 

“Stop a minute; I haven’t got quite through. 
You let me take one of these bonds for secu- 
rity — ” 

“But the bonds are not mine,” interposed the 
cashier. 

“ I know that as well as you do. This is 


76 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


the easiest way I know of to manage the busi- 
ness,” pursued the money-lender. “ You arn’t 
going to steal the bond, or anything of that 
sort. When you pay the note, I give you back 
the bond, and no harm done to any one. Don’t 
you see it?” 

“No, I do not, Mr. Bushwell. I would not 
do that on any account. I have no right to take 
the property of the bank for my own use.” 

“ Haven’t you taken five hundred and twenty 
dollars for your own use?” asked the money- 
lender, with a sneer. 

“No bond shall go out of the bank for any 
such purpose. I would rather face the directors, 
and tell them the whole truth, than do anything 
of that kind.” 

“You are too particular for your own good, 
and I must believe you don’t think you will be 
able to pay the note when it becomes due.” 

“ I am almost sure my brother in Portland 
will assist me. If he will not, I can raise the 
money in some other way. I have a great many 
friends in this city.” 

“ I don’t think much of friends in money mat- 
ters. If you want to let me take that bond, 
you shall have the money.” 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


77 


“ I could not if I would. The directors will 
make an examination to-morrow morning,” 
pleaded Mr. Longimore, 

“ They won’t miss one bond ; or, if they do, 
you can make it right with them somehow.” 

“Lie to them?” groaned the cashier, ashamed 
and humiliated even to discuss such a question. 
“ Let me say, once for all, that I will not use 
the bonds of the bank, or anything else belong- 
ing to it, to save myself. I will lose my situa- 
tion, and become a beggar to-morrow, rather 
than become a defaulter for a thousand dollars, 
or any other sum.” 

“ It strikes me that you are a defaulter now 
for over five hundred dollars. But you can take 
your choice ; it is none of my business.” 

“ But I did hope you would help me, Mr. Bush- 
well. I have assisted you a good deal in taking 
care of your business,” added the cashier re- 
proachfully. 

“ I don’t deny it ; but if I’ve got to pay five 
hundred and twenty dollars for what you’ve 
done, I had better paid a lawyer.” 

“ I will give you a hundred dollars for the 
use of the money one week,” said Mr. Longi- 
more, more desperately. 


78 


THE DOECAS CLtJB. 


“ And the security ? ” 

“ A bill of sale on my furniture, dated ten 
days ahead. It will be yours, if I don’t pay you 
by that time,” added the cashier. 

“It’s rather risky.” 

“Not at all.” 

“ The note to be for six hundred and twenty 
dollars?” 

“Yes.” 

“ I wouldn’t take no such risk for any other 
man. As you say, you have helped me a good 
deal about my business, and filed my papers for 
me. I want to help you if I can,” mused Fox 
Bushwell, snarling up his long gray hair by 
combing it with his bony fingers. “ I don’t like 
to do it ; but I guess I’ll take the risk. Six 
hundred and twenty dollars, you said — didn’t 
you?” 

“ Six hundred and twenty ; and I will gh^e 
you the note and bill of sale to-night, if you 
will let me have the check.” 

“ If I’m. going to do it, I might as well do it 
now as any other time. It’s risky business ; and 
if I get sent to the poorhouse, you must try to 
do something for me,” replied Fox Bushwell, 


THE DORCAS CLUE. 


79 


laying the bundle of bonds upon the table, which 
the cashier was careful to pick up on the instant, 
and place in a tin case. 

Mr. Longimore wrote the bill of sale, specify- 
ing all the principal articles, but including every- 
thing in the house, and signed it. He passed 
the paper to his hard creditor on the other 
side of the table, and proceeded to make the 
note. When it was done, he tossed it over to 
the miser, with a blank check for him to fill 
out. Fox Bushwell had put on his spectacles, 
and was carefully reading the bill of sale. 

“But this document ought to have a witness 
to the signature,” suggested the creditor. 

“ Very well ; we can have it witnessed when 
we go out, replied Mr. Longimore. 

“ Better have the note witnessed, too. I don’t 
want anybody to think I took advantage of you ; 
and everything must be fair and above-board.” 

“ I don’t object. The same person can Avit- 
ness both papers.” 

Fox Bushwell filled out the blank check for 
five hundred and twenty dollars, on which he 
was to pay interest at the rate of six hundred 
per cent. 


80 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


“ That makes it all right,” said Mr. Longi- 
more, as he proceeded to gather up the other 
papers which belonged in the tin case, and which 
were kept in the bank vault. 

“ Just a moment before you go,” interposed 
the money-lender. “ I want to ask you about a 
mortgage I have, that will be due next week.” 

The cashier seated himself again. Fox Bush- 
well took from the breast pocket of his coat a 
package of papers, consisting of deeds, mortgages, 
notes, polices of insurance, and other documents. 
The bundle looked precisely like the package of 
bonds in the tin case, for they were both done up 
by the cashier, with the same tape and covering, 
the papers having been folded on the same tin. 
The miser asked his question, which involved a 
discussion of half an hour, and the church clocks 
were striking nine when they finished it. 

“ Now, if you’ll let me have half a dozen 
blank checks. I’ll go home,” said Fox Bushwell, 
rising from his chair, with the package of private 
papers in his hand. 

The cashier had to go to another part of the 
bank for the blanks. While he was gone. Fox 
Bushwell took the bundle of bonds from the tin 


THE DORCAS CLDB. 


81 


case. He looked at it earnestly, and his eye 
lighted up with a diabolical cunning. Instead 
of restoring the bonds, he placed the package 
of private documents in the tin case. 

When the cashier returned, the money-lender 
stood by the table, with the package in his hand. 
Mr. Longimore looked at the contents of 
the tin case ; he even lifted the bundle which 
he supposed was the bonds. He did not even 
suspect that it was not the bonds. Why should 
he ? No one could have told one package from 
the other except by reading the label upon it, 
written in the large, clerkly hand of the bank 
officer. 

“ It wouldn’t do for me to lose these papers,” 
said Fox Bushwell, leering and smiling, as he 
placed the bundle of bonds in his breast pocket. 

“ I should think it was hardly safe to keep 
them in your house. They might be stolen, or 
burned,” answered the cashier, rather indiffer- 
ently, as he locked the vault, in which he had 
just placed the tin case. 

“ No danger ; I keep them in a safe place — 
a good deal safer than that vault. A good many 
banks have been broken into one time and 
6 


82 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


another,” said the money-lender. ‘‘And that 
reminds me that I want to tell yon where I 
keep my papers, so that if anything should 
happen to me, sombody would know where to 
find them. I don’t tell my boy, or Mrs. Pining ; 
I can’t trust them.” 

“ But you want those papers witnessed, Mr. 
Bushwell,” suggested Mr. Longimore. 

“ We can do that at my house. Prince shall 
witness them. Your folks like him,” chuckled 
the usurer ; “ and if . anything happens, they 
won’t believe he means to cheat them, if I do.” 

“Very well; Prince shall witness the bill of 
sale and the note.” 

Mr. Longimore carefully secured the doors and 
windows of the bank building, and then walked 
to the house of Fox Bushwell. Mrs. Pining had 
gone to bed, but Prince was still studying his 
lesson in his comfortless chamber over the front 
entry. He was called down, the cashier ac- 
knowledged his signature on both papers, and 
the young man wrote his name as witness upon 
each of them. He read enough of the docu- 
ments to comprehend their nature, and only 
regretted that the father of Mollie was obliged 


THE DOECAS CLUB. 


83 


by his needs to mortgage his furniture, as he 
understood the transaction to mean. 

“ Now, go to bedi Prince ; and don’t burn 
the lamp till midnight,” said the money-lender. 

Prince returned to his chamber, and resumed 
the Latin translation upon which he was engaged 
when called. 

“ Now I will show you where I keep my 
papers,” said Fox Bush well, when the young 
man had left the front room. 

“ Of course I don’t want to know, unless you 
wish it,” replied Mr. Longimore. 

“ I do wish it. I’m getting old, and may die 
any day. I want you to know where my papers 
are, so that they need not be lost or destroyed,” 
continued the money-lender, taking the lamp, 
and leading the way to the cellar. 

From a place near the top of the wall, over a 
large pile of shavings, and under one of the 
great cross-timbers of the frame of the house. 
Fox Bushwell took a stone of considerable size. 
It was all he could lift from such a height, and 
its removal from the wall left a considerable 
aperture. Reaching into the hole, he took out 
a brass kettle, which contained a quantity of 
papers- 


84 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


“That’s my safe,” said Fox Bushwell, exhib- 
iting the kettle, which he held near the lamp, 
on a barrel. “No thief would ever think of 
looking behind that stone any more than any 
other.” 

“But your house might be burned,” added the 
cashier. 

“Well, the fire wouldn’t touch those papers, 
if it was.” 

“ The fall of that large timber over the hole 
would throw down the wall. But if you are 
satisfied, I am.” 

“ Of course you won’t tell any one,” added 
the miser. 

“ Certainly not,” replied Mr. Longimore, indif- 
ferently. 

Fox Bushwell put the bundle, which the 
cashier supposed consisted only of his creditor’s 
private papers, into the kettle, restoring the lat- 
ter to its place in the wall. Lifting the stone, 
he adjusted it so that it seemed to be as it had 
been since the house was built. He filled the 
chinks with small stones, and then conducted 
his visitor up stairs. 

“ If I should die, you will know just where 


THE DOECAS CLUB. 


85 


to look for my papers, Mr. Longimore,” said the 
usurer, as he opened the front door. 

“ Suppose you should die ; what am I to do 
with your papers ? ” asked the cashier. “ Have 
you made a will?” 

‘‘No, not yet,” replied the miser, with some- 
thing like a shudder, for men like him cannot 
think of giving away their property, even when 
they have no further use for it. 

“ Such things ought not to be deferred too 
long, you know, Mr. Bushwell.” 

“ I know it ; and I’m going to attend to the 
matter right off.” 

“ I believe Prince is your heir. At least, I 
never heard that you had any other near rela- 
tion,” added Mr. Longimore. 

“ Well, I haven’t got much to leave, and it 
don’t make much difference,” said the usurer, 
to whom the subject appeared to be very disa- 
greeable. “ Good night, Mr. Longimore.” 

“ Good night ; but I advise you to set your 
house in order, Mr. Bushwell ; not only your 
temporal but your spiritual house ; for death 
comes like a thief in the night.” 

“I’ll take care of it,” said the money-lender, 


86 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


partly closing the door, to hasten the departure 
of the no longer welcome guest. 

The cashier hastened away to his home. He 
had it in his mind to have a very serious talk 
with his miserable neighbor, in regard to the 
things beyond this life, for it seemed dreadful 
to him that a man should continue to pile up 
riches, with no thought of the hereafter. But 
not much time did Mr. Longimore give to the 
subject on that Monday night, for his own 
troubles weighed heavily upon his mind. He 
was safe from the censure of the bank directors ; 
but he had to pay six hundred and twenty dol- 
lars within ten days, or lose his furniture, lose 
even the piano with which Mollie could earn 
her bread by teaching music, if he should be 
suddenly taken away. Before he went to bed, 
he wrote a long letter to his brother in Port- 
land, detailing very precisely the nature and 
extent of his financial embarrassment, and asking 
for an immediate loan, to enable him to pay his 
note when it became due. He enclosed the 
sheet in an envelope, directed it, and put a post- 
age stamp upon it. He left it on the table, and 
went to bed. He had not the courage to tell 


THE DOKCAS CLUB. 87 

his wife what had happened ; and he permitted 
her to sleep on, unconscious of the heavy burden 
which he was bearing. He could not sleep, for the 
future seemed full of trial, even under the most 
hopeful view he could take of it. 

Fox Bush well’s room was the front chamber, 
next to J^rince’s. He usually retired at nine 
o’clock, to save burning the lamps ; but to-night 
he did not come up to his chamber as usual, 
and his nephew wondered where he was. The 
young man had heard the door close when the 
cashier left tiie house, and had also heard his 
“good night.” 

Prince wondered why his uncle did not go 
to bed; and at ten o’clock he went down for a 
drink of water. Doubtless he went for the 
water, but certainly he also wished to ascertain 
what the old man was doing. Fox Bushwell 
was not in the front room, nor in the kitchen, 
and Prince soon discovered that he was in the 
cellar. There was nothing strange in his being 
there, and the young man went to bed. Per- 
haps the tea he had drank for supper had been 
too strong — an impossible thing a few weeks 
before ; perhaps the Latin he had studied in the 
evening had boggled up his brains ; at any rate, 


88 


THE DOKCAS CLUB. 


he could not sleep for a while. He was sure 
his uncle had not come up stairs when he heard 
the clock strike twelve ; but the young man did 
hear him shortly after that hour. His uncle was 
certainly more considerate than usual, for he 
seemed to be very careful about making any 
noise which might have disturbed the other 
inmates of the house. He had evidently taken 
off his shoes down stairs, and come up in his 
“stocking feet.” If the door and the bedstead 
had not creaked. Prince would not have known 
that his uncle had retired. 

“But the nephew was tired enough to sleep 
by this time ; and he did sleep, but not for a 
long time. He was awakened by a furious yel- 
ling in front of the house. Prince leaped from 
his bed, and was going to the window, when he 
heard the startling cry of “ Fire ! ” 

Then he smelt smoke ; then he was conscious 
that there was smoke in the room where he was ; 
then he heard the crackling and roaring of flames ; 
then he heard the screams of Mrs. Pining. 
Drawing on his trousers hastily, he opened the 
door. The entry was full of smoke, and down 
the stairway he could see the light of the flames. 


THE DORCAS CLUB. ' 89 

He rushed into his uncle’s room. The old man 
appeared to be still asleep. 

“Fire! uncle Fox!” he shouted, almost drag- 
ging his uncle from his bed. 

Then he rushed to the assistance of Mrs. Pin- 
ing ; but the housekeeper was already descend- 
ing the stairs. 

“ The house is afire ! Sufferin’, dyin’ world, 
the house is afire ! ” she screamed. 

Prince helped his uncle down stairs, for he 
seemed to be half paralyzed, so that he could 
not move alone; and they got out of the house 
at the last moment it was possible to do so by 
the stairs, which were now in flames. 


90 


THE DOECAS CLUB. 


CHAPTER V. 

AFTEE THE FIEE. 

T he cry of “Fire,” in the middle of the 
night is always an appalling sound, and 
the fact is appalling when the flames burst from 
a dwelling-house, where men, women, and chil- 
dren may be sleeping, unconscious that the 
devouring element is at work so near them. The 
cry startled those who lived in the street 
where the conflagration broke out, and in a few 
moments a crowd had gathered near the doomed 
dwelling. 

Prince had assisted his uncle to put on a part 
of his clothes, and, with the rest on his arm, 
had actually dragged the half paralyzed money- 
lender into the street, where he finished his 
toilet. Fox Bushwell was trembling with anguish 
at the loss of his house, or with some other 
emotion unexplained. When he had put on hi& 


THE DOECAS CLUB. . 


91 


coat, he felt in the pockets of it, as if to assure 
himself of the safety of whatever papers might 
be there. He seemed to be satisfied in this 
respect. 

“ O, my house, my house ! ” he groaned, in 
real or apparent anguish ; but no one seemed to 
pity or care for him. 

“ Sufferin’ and dyin’ world ! ” cried Mrs. 
Pining. “ The eend of the airth is come, and 
there ain’t no peace for the wicked ! ” 

Crowds of men, and even of women and chil- 
dren, came, hurried from their beds in the dead 
of the night by the startling cry, or by the 
glare of the flames. The engines came, but 
before the line of hose could be laid and the 
brakes manned, the roof of the house fell in, 
with a crash, and a cloud of sparks and cinders 
rose into the air. The building was nearly all 
gone when the first stream of water was directed 
upon the mass of fire. It was impossible to 
save a timber, or even an article of furniture, 
and the first water had been thrown upon the 
adjacent houses, that the flying firebrands might 
not carry destruction to them. Doubtless the 
fire was well managed, because it was not 


92 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


permitted to extend to the wooden structures 
around it. 

In half an hour the fire had done its work 
with remarkable thoroughness, and nothing but 
a fe^ timbers was left of Fox Bush well’s house. 
The engines continued to play upon the black- 
ened embers till not a spark of fire remained 
among them. The crowd went back to their 
beds, and the engines returned to their stations. 
Mrs. Pining had taken refuge in the house of 
a neighbor, to which she had been invited, and 
only a few lingered around the ruins. 

Among the first who had come to the fire 
was Mr. Longimore. His troubles banished 
sleep from his eyelids. He heard the cry of 
“Fire!” and, looking out the window, he saw 
the fiames bursting from the side of the money- 
lender’s house. He reached the scene of the 
excitement just as Prince was hurrying his uncle 
out of the front door. With some of the more 
active of the neighbors who had arrived, he 
attempted to remove the furniture from the 
front room. The old secretary and the dilap- 
idated chairs were carried out ; but then the 
flames drove the men from the house, and it was 


THE DOKCAS CLUB. 


93 


not safe to enter again. The cashier thought 
that the fire had broken out in or near the 
heap of shavings which he had noticed in the 
cellar, and he wondered if the brass kettle con- 
taining the papers of his neighbor could with- 
stand the heat. When nothing more could be 
done, the cashier looked for Fox Bushwell in 
the crowd. He found him sitting upon the 
doorsteps of a neighboring house, bewailing his 
misfortune in the presence of a knot of men 
and women who had gathered around him. 

‘‘I am ruined, Mr. Longimore ! ” exclaimed 
he, recognizing the cashier by the bright light 
of the fire. “ My house is gone ! ” 

“You ought to be thankful that 570ur life was 
saved,” replied his debtor. 

“ I am thankful for that. I should have 
burned to death if Prince had not waked me 
up,” groaned Fox Bushwell. “ I was sound 
asleep when it broke out. But I am ruined! 
I can’t afford to loose so much.” 

“ Had no insurance ? ” 

“None to speak of — only a thousand dollars.” 

“Well, that will nearly cover the loss.” 

“O, no. I can’t build another house for less 


94 THE DORCAS CLUB. 

than two thousand, and all my furniture is 
gone ! ” 

The cashier did not believe the miser would 
suffer much loss, if he had a thousand dollars 
of insurance. But he was astonished to learn 
that his neighbor had any insurance ; and cer- 
tainly no sane agent or company would have 
taken any more upon the property. Whatever 
risk he ran, the miser was not in the habit of 
paying out any money which he was not com- 
pelled to disburse, and had boasted that he never 
insured any houses that he owned. 

“ How did your house take fire, Mr. Bush- 
well ? ” asked the cashier. 

“I haven’t the least idea,” replied the money- 
lender, blankly. 

‘‘ When I looked out, the flames were break- 
ing out at the window in the • middle of the 
house, near the place where we went down 
cellar,” added Mr. Longimore. 

The usurer looked at his neighbor, as the 
fire lighted up the thin, pale face of the latter, 
and said nothing for a moment. 

“ I didn’t know where it broke out. I didn’t 
know anything about it till Prince woke me 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 95 

up,” said he, with more energy than he had 
before displayed. 

‘‘Can’t you think how it happened to take fire?” 

“I can’t form any idea. I went to bed about 
half past ten, and didn’t hear anything till my 
boy called me, and hurried me out of the 
house,” replied the miserable man. I am afraid 
somebody set the house afire.” 

“ Who should set it on fire ? ” 

“I don’t know. Perhaps somebody got mad 
because I made them pay me what they owed ; 
but I can’t think of anybody that would do 
such a thing,” whined Fox Bushwell. 

“ Did you go down cellar after 1 left you ? ” 
inquired Mr. Longimore. 

“ Yes, I went down to fix the kindlings for the 
fire in the morning.” 

“ What time was that ? ” 

“ About ten o’clock, I think.” 

“You had a lamp, of course.” 

“Yes; I couldn’t do anything in the dark. 
I piit the lamp on the barrel, just as I always 
do, while I split up the kindlings.” 

“ If anything took fire from your lamp, it 
would have shown itself long before the flames 
burst out.” 


96 


THE DOECAS CLUB. 


“ Certainly it would ; I don’t believe it got 
afire from my lamp. Somebody must have set 
the fire.” 

“But it came from the inside,” suggested the 
cashier.” 

“ I don’t know whether it did or not.” 

“I do, for I saw the flames breaking out 
through that middle window on the lower 
floor.” 

Fox Bush well and the cashier talked till all 
the listeners had left them and gone to their 
beds again, till the fire was extinguished, and 
the engines had left. 

“Was the note I gave you burned?” asked 
the bank officer, in a low tone, when they were 
alone. 

“No; that was in my pocket-book,” answered 
the money-lender. “ I only put my bonds and 
mortgages into the brass kettle.” 

What do you think has become of that brass 
kettle by this time ? ” 

“O, I think that’s safe.” 

“I don’t believe it is. Even the large floor- 
timbers were burned off, and fell into the cellar,” 
said Mr. Longimore, gently, as though he did 
not wish to destroy the hopes of the usurer. 


THE DOKCAS CLUB. 


97 


“You don’t think my papers are burned up 
— do you, Mr. Longimore ? ” groaned Fox Bush- 
well. 

“I’m afraid they are. You ought to have 
kept them in the bank vault.” 

“ I don’t think the bank’s a safe place. Rob- 
bers are always breaking into banks,” muttered 
the usurer. 

“But we can soon see whether the papers 
are burned or not. I will get a lantern, and 
we will see if we can find the brass kettle.” 

The cashier went to his own house, and soon 
returned with the lantern. They walked over 
to the ruins of Fox Bushwell’s house. There 
was scarcely anything left of it — only a few 
blackened timbers which had fallen into the 
cellar. They had been drenched and soaked 
with water by the engines, and great puddles, 
which had not’ yet soaked into the earth, stood 
beneath them. On the side where the brass 
kettle had been concealed, the wall had fallen 
over, as it had also in other places, making a 
practicable causway into the cellar. 

“You see now how it is,” said Mr. Longi- 
more, pointing to the fallen wall. 

7 


98 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


“ They cheated me when they laid those 
stone,’’ replied the money-lender. “ They didn’t 
half lay the wall, or it wouldn’t have fallen 
over.” 

“ That may be ; but it wasn’t a proper place 
to keep valuable papers,” said the cashier, 
rather severely. “ I have told you more than 
once that I would keep your papers in the 
bank vault. But it is no use to talk about it 
now.” 

“You know as well as I do that a great many 
folks have lost their bonds by keeping them in 
bank safes, when they have been broken into by 
robbers,” whined the miser. “ I never thought 
it was safe.” 

“ I hope your papers are safe, but I think it 
is hardly possible,” added the cashier, as he 
began to examine the ground where the wall 
had stood. “The brass kettle must have been 
carried over into the cellar when the wall went 
down.” 

Mr. Longimore, with the lantern in his hand, 
led the way into the cellar. He rolled over a 
few of the smaller stones, and presently dis- 
covered the brass kettle, bottom up, and crushed 
in by the rocks which had fallen upon it. 


THE DOECAS CLUB. 99 

“ Here it is I ” exclaimed the cashier, as he 
drew the kettle from the rocks. 

“ Is there anything in it? ” gasped the usurer, 
as though his life or death depended upon the 
answer. 

“Nothing at all; it was upside down.” 

“Everything gone! I’m lost! ruined!” 
groaned the usurer. “ I might as well die now.” 

“It isn’t quite so bad as that,” added Mr. 
Longimore, in soothing tones. “ The mortgages 
must be on record, and the notes will be dupli- 
cated by the makers of them.” 

“ I don’t know about that. Even the policy 
on the house was burnt,” said Fox Bushwell, 
in dismay. 

“ The company will pay the insurance all the 
same,” continued Mr. Longimore, poking over 
the rubbish to see if he could find anything 
from the kettle that had escaped the flames. 

Nothing combustible could have passed through 
that flery furnace, and it was clear enough to 
the cashier that all of his neighbor’s valuable 
papers had been consumed. 

“ What on earth am I going to do ? ” moaned 
the usurer. 

LofC. 


100 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


“ I don’t think you will loose much. Those 
who owe you will give new notes, and your 
insurance will nearly rebuild your house. Come, 
I think we had better get out of the night air. 
Prince has gone to my house to sleep, and you 
can share the bed with him.'’ 

“No; I guess I won’t go there. I’ve got an 
empty house down the street, and I am afraid 
somebody will set that afire, if I don’t look out 
for it,” replied Fox Bushwell. “If you will 
lend me that lantern till morning, I’ll stay 
there.” 

“ But you have no bed to sleep in ; the house 
is not furnished,” protested the cashier. 

“ It’s almost morning now ; and I couldn’t 
sleep if I went to bed, I feel so bad. I shall 
have to move into that house, and I want to 
get it ready. I must go to work on it as soon 
as it’s daylight. I can’t afford to board at a 
hotel.” ■ 

“Come to my house to breakfast, Mr. Bush- 
weU.” 

“ Perhaps I will ; I’ll see.” 

Fox Bushwell took the lantern, and walked 
down the street towards the house from which 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


101 


he had recently ejected the owner for non-pay- 
ment of the mortgage note. It was like the 
one which had just been burned ; but, being 
newer, it was in much better condition. He 
took the key from his pocket, and entered the 
house ; but what he did there for the next hour 
does not yet appear. 

Mr. Longimore walked to his own home, 
where his family were again slumbering after 
the excitement caused by the fire. He sat down 
in the back parlor, on the table of which lay 
the letter he had written in the evening. He 
began to think over the events of the night. 
He tried to set up some theory of the possible 
or probable origin of the fire in Fox Bushwell’s 
house. There were many ways that a fire might 
be kindled, which could not be explained after 
the premises were destroyed. The mice might 
have got among the friction matches ; the lamp 
rags might have ignited by spontaneous com- 
bustion ; a live coal in the ash barrel might 
have lighted a shaving ; and some enemy of the 
usurer — perhaps the man he had driven from 
the vacant house — might have thrown a lighted 
match into that heap of shavings. It was possi- 


102 


THE DOECAS CLUB. 


ble, too, that Fox Bushwell had set the hoEsc 
on fire, in order to oldain the insurance, though 
he would not have been likely to remain in his 
bed, if he had done so until the flames had 
aearly cut off his retreat. 

It was a profitless consideration, and the 
cashier went to sleep in the rocking-chair in 
which he sat, for he did not care to awaken 
his wife by going to bed. He slumbered only 
an hour, and when he awoke, it was nearly 
daylight. He had intended to go to the bank 
before breakfast, in order to do some writing 
which the visit of the usurer had prevented him 
from finishing the evening before. On his arrival, 
he opened the vault to obtain his books, for he 
desired to balance his personal account before 
the directors appeared ; and some of them gen- 
erally came early in the morning, to read the 
newspapers, which the porter brought at six 
o’clock. He punched Fox Bushw ell’s check for 
five hundred and twenty dollars, which he had 
received the night before, and charged the 
account of his hard creditor with the amount 
for which it was drawn. He also placed the 
sum to his own credit, thus balancing his per- 



Silence, Man ! ” thundered the Cashier. Page 106. 









THE DOECAS CLUB. 


103 


sonal account, which he ruled off, and felt 
happy that he could not be censured even by a 
look of displeasure. He wrote the other two 
entries necessary to make his own and the 
usurer’s standing correct with the bank. 

He had brought the tin case from the vault, 
for he had placed the check in it for the night. 
When he took it up to return it to the safe, 
whether voluntarily or involuntarily, he raised 
the package of bonds. As his eye glanced at 
the label on the bundle, he started back with 
an emotion of horror ; his heart rose to his 
throat, and the blood seemed to be frozen in 
his veins and arteries. He staggered to the 
table, and dropped upon it the case, retaining 
the package in his hand. His gaze was fixed 
upon the indorsment of the bundle, in his own 
large and plain handwriting. His frame trembled 
all over, and the cold sweat stood upon his 
brow as he read the label, — 

Private Papers of Fox Bushwell. 

The cashier sank back, exhausted by his 
violent emotions, into an arm-chair behind him. 
He groaned in the heaviness of his spirit. 


104 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


The trival mortification which had menaced him 
had been avoided to he succeeded by shameful 
disgrace and utter ruin. He trembled, he wept, 
he uttered a despairing groan when he thought 
of his wife and children, who, innocent as they 
were, must share his disgrace and ruin to the 
end of their days. Gathering courage from his 
desperation, he sprang up, and proceeded to ex- 
amine the tin case. 

Perhaps the bonds were still there. Vain 
hope ! they were not there. He opened the 
package of “Fox Bushwell’s private papers.” 
By some inexplicable magic they might be 
changed into the bonds. Alas, they were only 
the mortgages, the single policy, and the notes 
of the miserable usurer, which had thus been 
saved from the fire. He even searched the vault 
for the lost package, catching, at a straw, the 
faint hope that he might have put it in another 
place, and forgotten it. The bundle was not to 
be found. He had seen his soulless creditor put 
one package into his pocket. He had seen him 
holding the bonds in his hand, while he made 
the Shy lock bargain with him. He had seen 
the two bundles lying on the table at the same 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


105 


time, and he distinctly remembered that he had 
put the bonds back into the case with his own 
hands. He had unwittingly made this awful 
blunder ? He could not believe it. 

If Fox Bush well’s private papers had been put 
in the tin case, the bonds had gone into the 
pocket of his contemptible visitor. If the wretch 
had made this blunder, the bonds had been 
placed in the brass kettle, and burned to ashes. 
Mr. Longiniore was almost insane at the thought. 
For a moment he dashed wildly up and down 
the room, and then, as if decided what to do, 
he put the package of papers in his pocket, 
restored the tin case and the books to the vault, 
and locked the iron doors. Seizing his hat, he 
walked at a furious pace to the vacant house 
where Fox Bush well had taken refuge from the 
chill air of the night. He kicked and pounded 
at the door without rousing the money-lender, 
who, perhaps, did not care to see him. Then, 
in his desperation, he thrust his naked fist 
through a pane of glass, heedless of the blood 
that followed the onslaught, with the intention 
of unfastening the sash, so that he could obtain 
admission by the window. But the crash of the 
glass brought Fox Bushwell to the door. 


106 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


“What do you mean, Mr. Longimore, by 
destroying my property in — ” 

“ Silence, man ! ” tliimdered the cashier, as 
he seized the quaking money-lender by the 
throat. “You have ruined me, after all!” 

“ Why, what do you mean, Mr. Longimore ? ” 
whined the usurer. “ Don’t hurt me. Are 
you crazy ? ” 

“ I am crazy ! mad ! beside myself ! If you 
don’t answer me, if you don’t speak the truth. 
I’ll tear you in pieces, as a lion does a goat I ” 
roared the cashier. 

“ Let me alone I Don’t hurt me ! I’ll do any- 
thing. I’ll answer you. I always speak the 
truth.” 

“Where is the bundle of bonds?” shrieked 
Mr. Longimore, shaking his clinched fist in the 
pale face of the miser. 

“ What bonds ? I don’t know what you 
mean.” 

“You do, you villain! What have you done 
with them ? ” 

“ I haven’t got any bonds, and I don’t know 
what you mean. Don't be so savage : I’m afraid 
of you.” 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


107 


“You may well be afraid of me, if you don’t 
give up those bonds ! What have you done 
with them ? ” 

“I haven’t seen them. I don’t understand 
what you are talking about,” whined the 
trembling scoundrel. “Don’t hurt me! I’m a 
clergyman.” 

“You are a knave and a villain; and if you 
were ten times a clergyman, I would tear you 
in pieces, if you don’t give up the bonds,” 
said Mr. Longimore, more mildly, but still furi- 
ously. 

“I can’t understand you,” pleaded Fox Bush- 
well, livid with terror. 

“Do you see that?” demanded the cashier, 
producing the miser’s package of papers, which 
he gave to the other. 

“ Why, Mr. Longimore ! these are my papers ! 
My mortgages ! my policy ! my notes ! I thought 
they were all burned. God bless you, Mr. 
Longimore, for saving them from the fire ! I’ll 
pray for you ! I’m a clergyman ; and I’ll pray 
for you always ! ” cried the money-lender, with 
a ghastly smile on his livid face. 

It seemed to be real; and, quivering with 


108 


THE DOECAS CLUB. 


emotion, the cashier gazed upon the wretch 
before him. 

“You left this package in the bank, and took 
the bundle of bonds — forty thousand dollars in 
bonds ! ” gasped Mr. Longimore. “ What have 
you done with them?” 

“I took the bonds?” said Fox Bushwell, 
opening his eyes and his mouth to their widest 
tension. 

“ You did.” 

“ I didn’t mean to take them, if I did. I 
thought they were my private papers. You 
know the two bundles were just alike. You 
fixed them both, with the same wrapper and the 
same red tape,” whined the usurer. “ I took 
the bonds instead of my bundle — did I?” 

“You did!” groaned the cashier. 

“ I didn’t know it. I didn’t mean to take 
the bonds. I’m a clergyman, and I can’t tell a 
lie.” 

“What have you done with them?’' 

“With whcM?” 

“With the bonds.” 

“ I put the bundle which I thought was mine 
into the brass kettle. If it was the package of 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


109 


bonds — I — they — were — all — burned,” said 
Fox Bush well, with a shudder. 

“ I am lost ! I am utterly ruined ! O, my 
wife, my children ! ” groaned Mr. Longimore, 
beating his forehead with his hand. 

Suddenly he turned and fled from the house. 
Fox Bushwell watched him till he disappeared 
in the distance ; then he looked upon his bun- 
dle of papers, and a hardly perceptible smile 
played for an instant upon his lips. 


110 


THE DOECAS CLUB. 


CHAPTER VI. 


OPENING THE ENVELOPES. 


6 6 LEASE to come to order,” said Miss 



Minnie Darling, the president of the 


Dorcas Society, when the hour apjjointed for the 
meeting arrived, on the Tuesday following the 
events narrated in the last chapters. 

It was early on the morning of that day that 
Mr. Longimore had rushed, in an agony border- 
ing on distraction, from the vacant house where 
Fox Bushwell had taken refuge. The fair mem- 
bers discontinued their chatter instantly, for they 
were deeply interested in the coming proceed- 
ings of the meeting. They ceased to talk all 
together, as enthusiastic girls are apt to do ; in- 
deed, they ceased to talk at all. The secretary 
read the minutes of the last meeting, the regu- 
lar routine business was transacted, and several 
applications for aid were presented by members 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


Ill 


who had learned of poor people needing cloth- 
ing or other necessaries since the last week. 
Certainly everything was done “ decently and 
in order;” hut it must be acknowledged that 
there was far less interest than usual in the ordi- 
nary proceedings. Doubtless the vision of a 
swift-flying race-boat, propelled by fairy rowers, 
was flitting through the minds of most of 
them. 

The last clause of the minutes of the preced- 
ing meeting was to the effect that “ Donald John 
Ramsay, otherwise ‘ Don John,’ was appointed 
Mercury for the next week.” This was a matter 
of so much importance that even a person gen- 
erally so busy as the active representative of 
the firm of Ramsay & Son, boat-builders, felt 
that he could not decline it ; but it so happened 
that business was just then at a stand-still 
with him, and it was a positive pleasure to spend 
the afternoon in the presence of so many charm- 
ing young ladies, especially as Nellie Patterdale 
was a prominent member of the association. At 
the time when all the routine business of the 
meeting had been done, however, Don John had 
not yet put in an appearance ; and no such 


112 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


thing as the non-arrival of the the young man 
who was honored with the title of Mercury to 
the goddesses had ever been known. He had 
always been on hand when the members were 
called to order, and, besides feeling like a fly in 
a honey-pot, he regarded himself as highly com- 
plimented by the appointment. 

“Where is our Mercury?” asked Eva Doane. 
“ There is no one to send with the garments 
voted at the last meeting.” 

“ He treats us with contempt in not making 
his appearance,” added the president. “ Did you 
notify him. Miss Secretary ? ” 

“I did, in the usual form, and requested him 
to inform me if he was unable to accept the 
appointment,” replied Eva. 

“ He incurs our displeasure by slighting our 
Expressed wishes,” continued Minnie Darling. 

“ I am sure something unexpected has detained 
him,” said Nellie Patterdale ; and there was a 
slight blush upon her face, as she realized, after 
she had begun to speak, that she was apologiz- 
ing for one whom she was supposed to regard 
with more than ordinary favor. “ Don John is 
always at the post of duty, and always punctual, 


THE DOKCAS CLUB. 


113 


unless he is sick, or detained by circumstances 
absolutely beyond his own control.” 

“I suppose so,” laughed Ruth Hapgood. 

‘‘We all know that Don John is a model 
young man, and we are willing to believe that 
the sky has fallen, or that some other equally 
disastrous event has prevented his attendance,” 
said the president. “ Therefore it is our presi- 
dential pleasure that he be heard before he is 
condemned, reproved, or reproached. We are 
ready to attend to the business of opening the 
envelopes, which I intended should be done by 
our Mercury, so that no mark, dot, scratch, or 
indentation shall enable one of our own number 
to identify the enclosure of her father or guar- 
dian. We must find some other person to per- 
form this duty. Who shall it be?” 

“ I will go for my brother,” suggested Nellie 
Patterdale. 

“ That involves a delay,” replied the presi- 
dent. 

“ My cousin, Philip Jelley, from Bangor, is in 
the house,” said Ruth Hapgood, at whose resh 
dence the meeting was held. “ He arrived to- 
day noon ; and when I told him we were to havf^ 
8 


114 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


a meeting of over twenty young ladies this after- 
noon, he declared that he was a lucky fellow, 
and had tumbled into the sugar bowl. When 
I informed him that we allowed no gentleman 
to attend our meeting, except Mercury, he 
threatened to commit suicide by drowning him- 
self in a wash-bowl.” 

“He is in the house — is he?” asked the 
president. 

“He is; and, if he has not already committed 
suicide, he is available for use.” 

“ Bring in the Jelley,” added Minnie Dar- 
ling. “We are all dying to know what is in 
the envelopes. We appoint the Jelley Mercury, 
pro temy 

Ruth soon produced the young gentleman 
from Bangor, who was formally presented to the 
president. 

“Minnie, darling, I am delighted — ” he be- 
gan. 

“ Stop, sir ! ” interposed the president, with 
dignity. “That is a stale joke, an unpardona- 
ble offence. Whoever, of the lords of creation, 
makes a pause between her first and her last 
name, in addressing the president of this asso- 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


115 


ciation, shall be instantly and forever banished 
from our presence.” 

“ I beg ten thousand pardons ; and, under the 
circumstances, if I were drowning, I would not 
stop the millionth part of a second, for breath, 
between your first and last name,” protested 
Philip Jelley. “ I am ready to serve you with 
my fortune, my life, and my sacred honor, and 
to dispense Bangor chivalry like dew among the 
rose-buds.” 

“It is well, Mr. Jelley. We accept your apol- 
ogy and your promise to sin no more. We have 
work for you to do.” 

“ I would I were a Hercules instead of a 
Mercury, then, that I might slay the Nemean 
lion, demolish the Lernean hydra, overwhelm the 
Erymanthian boar — ” 

“ Stay ; you will become a bore yourself if 
you intend to recite the exploits of Hercules, 
for we know them by heart,” interposed the 
president. 

“ Forgive me. I am dumb till my task is given 
out,” replied the young man, amid the general 
tittering of the girls, who saw that the presi- 
dent was more than a match for the glib-speak- 
ing gentleman from Bangor. 


116 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


“ Our forgiveness flows as freely as water to 
the truly penitent. Play the role of Mercury, 
and not of Hercules,” continued Minnie. “ You 
will open those envelopes in the basket, pass 
whatever bank bills they contain to the treas- 
urer, and announce the amount taken from such 
enclosure. You will stand alone in the corner, 
as you do so, and be particular to observe the 
instructions I give you, Mr. Jelley.” 

“I will obey to the letter.” 

“ Obey in spirit, as well as to the letter.” 

Nellie had placed the basket containing the 
envelopes in a chair in the corner of the room. 
In another chair was a second basket for the 
envelopes and circulars, when the money had 
been taken from them. 

“You will stand alone in the corner, with 
your back to the audience — ” 

“With my back to the ladies?” gasped Mr. 
Jelley. 

“You will obey me in letter and in spirit,” 
the president proceeded. “You will face the 
corner while you open the envelopes and take 
the money from them. You will be sure that 
no young lady sees the one from which you take 

• r 


THE DOECAS CLUB. 


117 


a bill. You will throw each enclosure and the 
circular it contains into the waste basket on 
your right. Then, with the money in your hand, 
and nothing else, you will right about face, and 
announce the amount, which will be recorded 
by the secretary. You will next step forward, 
and hand the amount to the secretary. Do you 
understand me, Mr. Jelley?” 

“Perfectly; and I will carry out your instruc- 
tions in spirit, and to the very letter, protesting 
against nothing but the penalty of being com- 
pelled to turn my back to the ladies, even for 
a single instant,” replied Mr. Jelley, who, for a 
young man of eighteen, appeared to have an 
astonishing self-possession in the presence of such 
a bevy of laughing girls, whom it is ten times 
as difficult to face as it is twice as many full- 
grown women. 

“ By our presidential command you do so ; and 
therefore we pardon any seeming discourtesy in 
the act.” 

“But I am the only sufferer,” protested Mr. 
Jelley. 

“ Then suffer in silence, or dechne the charge 
we have imposed upon you, and we will seek a 
more willing Mercury. 


118 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


“None could be found in this humdrum age, 
or even in the classic days of yore.” 

“You have the caduceus; proceed with the 
business, or vacate the premises.” 

“ I am as dumb as a mute, but as active as 
a French dancing-master,” answered Mr. Jelle}^ 
as he hopped into the part of the room where 
the baskets were awaiting him. Facing into the 
corner, he took up one of the white envelopes, 
broke it open, and took therefrom the printed 
circular. From this he removed a greenback, 
and having deposited the now useless papers in 
the waste-basket, he faced about with military 
precision. The members of the Dorcas Society 
were breathless with interest and excitement, 
and perhaps the graceful military salute which 
the messenger made was entirely lost upon 
them. 

“ Miss President.” 

“ Mercury.” 

“ I have the honor to — ” 

“ Announce the denomination of the bill, with- 
out any flourishes whatever,” interrupted the 
president, impatiently. “You will say, ‘ One 
dollar,’ ‘ Five dollars,’ or ‘ Ten dollars ; ’ ‘ only 


THE DOECAS CLUB. 


119 


this, and nothing more ; ’ not another word, or 
no longer shall you be Mercury.” 

“Imperial Juno, I — ” ' 

“ The amount ! ” 

“ Ten dollars.” 

“It is well. Advance, and give the bill to 
the treasurer.” 

Mr. Jelley obeyed, marched with military pre- 
cision to the chair of Nellie Patterdale, wheeled 
about and returned to the corner. 

“Five dollars,” said he, when he had, .in the 
same manner as before, possessed himself of the 
monetary contents of another envelope. 

This small amount produced a slight reaction 
in the minds of the members, from hope to fear 
that the -aggregate would be insufficient for the 
purchase of the boat. 

“ Ten dollars,” said Mercury, next. 

Hope revived again. 

“ Ten dollars,” was the succeeding announce- 
ment. 

By this time Mr. Jelley seemed to have fully 
learned his lesson, and he did not add a single 
word beyond the requirement of the president. 
When he had opened the next envelope, he 


120 


THE DOECAS CLUB. 


faced about, and, having made the military 
salute, he stood like a statue, and as dumb as 
one. The president and the members waited 
impatiently to know the amount of the bill in 
his hand ; but he continued to maintain his 
obstinate silence. 

“ Announce the denomination of the bill,” said 
Minnie Darling. 

Mr. Jelley bowed, but opened not his lips. 

“ What ails you ? ” 

Mercury wrote upon a slip of paper with a 
pencil, “May I speak?” which he presented to 
the president with the utmost deference. 

“ I command 3^ou to speak.” 

“ I beg pardon ; but I cannot announce the 
amount in the last envelope without exceeding 
my instructions,” replied the messenger. “You 
commanded me to say, ‘ One dollar,’ ‘ Five dol- 
lars,’ or ‘Ten dollars;’ ‘only this, and nothing 
more.’ As this bill in my hand is neither of 
these, and is something more, I dare not 
speak.” 

“You go by the letter, and not by the spirit. 
Mercury. The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth 
life.” 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


121 


“ I think it will in this case, Miss President,” 
added the messenger. 

“We will amplify our instructions so far that 
you may give the denomination of the bill, what- 
ever it may be ; but only this and nothing 
more.” 

“ Fifty dollars,” said Mr. Jelley, bowing, and 
advancing to the treasurer. 

This announcement was followed by a general 
titter and a general clapping of hands ; but it 
was succeeded by two of only five dollars each, 
which depressed the tone somewhat. Then came 
several tens and one twenty. For the twentieth 
time the messenger faced about, and saluted the 
president. He did not immediately speak, and 
seemed to be laboring under the temptation to 
make a speech, which, however, he was able to 
resist, though he made his announcement with 
extraordinary flourish. 

“ One hundred dollars ! ” 

“ Goody ! ” “ Goody ! ” “ Splendid ! ” “ Capi- 
tal!” “Elegant!” “Magnificent!” cried the 
members from all parts of the room, as Mr. 
Jelley advanced to deposit the large bill in the 
hand of the treasurer. “We have more than. 


122 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


enough now!” “It’s a sure thing!” “What 
glorious times we shall have!” 

The next announcement was of another fifty, 
and the last was a twenty. 

“ The business is completed, Mercury, and we 
present our thanks for the very acceptable man- 
ner^ in which you have discharged your duty,” 
said the president. 

“ Must I go now? ” asked the gentleman from 
Bangor. “ I have opened twenty-five envelopes, 
and I estimate that I have spent twenty-five 
minutes with my back turned to the goddesses 
of this assembly, which was, therefore, all lost 
time to me. I implore you. Miss President, 
compensate me for this sacrifice by permitting 
me to remain for a space of time equivalent to 
that of which I have been cheated by my implicit 
obedience to your presidential commands.” 

“Not because you deserve any other reward 
than our thanks, which have been presented to 
you, but because we may have further need of 
you, are you permitted to remain.” 

“ Thanks, Miss President ! ” And the messen- 
ger seated himself at the side of Ruth Hap- 
good. 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


123 


While this conversation was going on, Eva 
Doane was adding the amounts recorded, and 
Nellie Patterdale was counting the money. 

“Well, Miss Secretary, what is the result?” 
asked Minnie Darling. 

“ Let us see if my figures agree with Nellie’s 
count, first,” said Eva, as she and the treasurer 
compared notes. 

“ Stop a moment,” interposed the president. 
“I have forgotten one thing. — Mercury!” 

“Miss President,” replied Mr. Jelley, spring- 
ing to his feet, and saluting as before ; and it 
was supposed he was, or had been, a member 
of some military company. 

“ If any one or more of the envelopes you 
opened contained no money, you are solemnly 
enjoined not to mention the fact,” added Min- 
nie. 

“ But, Miss President, every one of them did 
contain money,” responded Mercury. 

“ Now, Mercury, you have spoiled the whole ! ” 
exclaimed the president, with an expression of 
deep chagrin. “Why did you say anything?” 

“ I implore your presidential pardon,” said the 
messenger, bowing low. “You told me if one 


124 


THE DOECAS CLUB. 


or more of the envelopes contained no money, I 
was not to mention the fact. As every one of 
them did contain money, from five dollars to a 
hundred, I respectfully and reverentially submit, 
there was no fact to conceal.” 

“I am sorry anything was said,” added Min- 
nie. 

“ But it can make no difference,” interposed 
the secretary, “for I have recorded and numbered 
twenty-five donations ; and I am sure no one 
can have the least idea who gave the five dol- 
lars, and who the fifties, and the hundred.” 

“It is all right,” protested several of the 
girls. 

“If it were not all right, it could not be 
helped,” said Minnie. “You will read the 
amount. Miss Secretary.” 

“ Four hundred and fifteen dollars,” replied 
Eva Doane, consulting her paper. 

“ Four hundred and fifteen dollars ! ” repeated 
the president. 

This announcement was followed by the clap- 
ping of hands, and by all the ejaculations con- 
tained in the young ladies’ vocabulary. The 
amount of the contributions was unexpectedly 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


125 


large ; indeed, they were double the sum antici- 
pated by the most sanguine. In the circular 
the probable cost of the boat had been stated, 
and a majority of the donors had evidently com- 
puted, and given what appeared to be their fair 
share, with some allowance for the possible fail- 
ure of a portion to contribute. On the other 
hand, it was evident that the one who had en- 
closed the hundred, and the others the twenties 
and fifties, believed that a considerable number 
of the members’ fathers or guardians would give 
nothing, and had been very generous in order 
to prevent the defeat of the plan. But none of 
the girls had the remotest idea who had given 
these large sums. At least a dozen of their 
fathers were able to give the largest amount ; 
and, of half that number, one was as likely to 
have done it as another. It was by no means 
certain, even, that the poorer parents had en- 
closed the five-dollar bills, since some of the 
richest men in the city were the meanest and 
most penurious. 

It was with a feeling of real pain that Min- 
nie Darling realized that Mollie Longimore, who 
was not present at this meeting, had not done 


126 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


as she had said she intended to do. Her father 
must have given at least five dollars, for every 
envelope contained money, and this was the 
smallest amount in any. Perhaps something in 
her manner had induced Mollie to change her 
purpose, and the poor, harassed cashier had felt 
obliged to contribute. Minnie was sorry she had 
not spoken more decidedly to her friend, or that 
she had not given the envelope to her own 
father, with an explanation, for he was more 
able to give a thousand dollars than Mollie’s 
father was one. But she was determined to see 
Mollie, when she could speak to her alone, and 
have the money returned. She felt that it was 
a shame and an outrage for one so burdened 
with trials and troubles as she had heard Mr. 
Longimore was, to be asked, or even permitted, 
to give five or ten dollars for such a luxury as 
a row-boat. 

“We can buy Don John’s boat at once,” said 
Nellie Patterdale. “ If she is ready, we can take 
our first lesson in rowing to-morrow.” 

“Who shall be our instructor? ” asked Eva. 

“ O that I might be the happy fellow ! ” ex- 
claimed Mercury, pro tern. 


THE DOECAS CLUB. 127 

“Do you understand rowing?” inquired Min- 
nie. 

“ Alas, no ! I don’t know an oar from a bot- 
tle of Day & Martin’s blacking ! ” groaned the 
messenger. 

“ Commodore Montague, Don John, Ned Pat- 
terdale, and a dozen more, know all about it,” 
added Ruth. “ But we have members enough 
to till the boat five times.” 

“We can have another boat!” exclaimed 
Eva, her eyes flashing at this rapturous thought. 

“ Two boats I ” shouted some of the girls, wild 
with delight at the prospect which was thus pre- 
sented to them, 

“ Certainly ; we can purchase a second boat 
immediately,” added Nellie. “But even two 
are not enough to enable us all to row at the 
same time.” 

“ Our girls afloat ! Why was I born that my 
lot should be cast in Bangor, instead of here!” 
sighed Mr. Jelley. 

But the girls gave little heed to the rhapso- 
dist from up the river. They were excited, and 
they all talked to together, discussing plans for 
the future. It was all confusion ; but it was 


128 


THE DOE-CAS CLUB. 


sweet confusion, for there is nothing in the 
world more delightful than five and twenty, or 
even half a dozen, girls full of life and anima- 
tion, with from two to a dozen ringing out their 
filvery tones at the same instant, as though life 
were all too short to enable them to speak one 
at a time. The president rapped with a pencil on 
the table to bring order out of this confusion, 
so as to propose a method by which all might 
fairly use the boats. At this moment Don John 
was announced. 

The arrival of the boat-builder created a de- 
cided sensation. He was the man of boats, and 
he could tell them whether or not the new boat 
could be used the next afternoon, or even that 
very evening, for the weather was warm and 
pleasant for early May. He could tell them 
when they could have the second boat ; and he 
could tell them who was best qualified to instruct 
them , in the art of rowing. Don John was 
doubly welcome, therefore, and no one even 
thought of hearing his excuses for not present- 
ing himself in season to discharge his duties as 
messenger. 

But there was something about Don John 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


129 


which seemed to embarrass them. Instead of 
wearing his best suit, as he was in the habit 
of doing when he went into the presence of 
young ladies, he wore his working clothes. More 
than this, his garments were covered with mud 
and dirt ; his face was begrimed with grease and 
tar, and streaked with lines where the perspira- 
tion had run down from his brow. Besides, his 
expression was full of trouble. 

“ I hope you will excuse me for being late. 
Miss President,” he began, with much emotion 
and excitement. “ I was so busy that I did not 
think of this meeting till the minute I started 
to come to it. Of course you have heard the 
news? ” 

“What news?” asked Minnie. 

“ About Mr. Longimore.” 

“We have heard nothing.” 

“ He has disappeared ; nothing can be found 
of him,” replied Don John. 

“ Mr. Longimore ! ” exclaimed several of the 
girls. 

“ He has not been seen since the fire last 
night, though it is certain he was at the bank 
this morning,” added the boat-builder. 

9 


130 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


“But what has become of him?” asked 
Nellie. 

“No one knows. The bank directors did not 
think much of it till they ascertained about 
noon that a package of forty thousand dollars 
in bonds was missing.” 

“ How awful ! ” exclaimed Eva. 

“ Mollie Longimore was not at school to-day,” 
said one of the girls. 

“ Do they think he has run away with the 
money?” inquired Ruth. 

“ The directors are afraid he used the bonds 
some time ago. If he had intended to run away, 
they think he would not have waited till this 
morning. Mrs. Longimore and Mollie say he has 
been much troubled lately. In a word, they 
fear he has committed suicide.” 

“Poor Mollie!” sighed the president, bursting 
into tears. 

She was not the only one who wept as the 
members thought of the agony poor Molhe must 
be suffering at chat moment. 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


131 


CHAPTER VII. 


THE FIRST LESSON IN ROWING. 

T is SO dreadful!” exclaimed Eva Doane, 



wiping the tears from her eyes. “ To 


think of Mr. Longimore doing anything wrong ! 
It seems to me quite impossible.” 

“I suppose he was in debt, and the tempta- 
tion was too much for him,” added Ruth Hap- 
good. 

“I do hope he has not committed suicide,” 
continued Eva, with a shudder ; “ that is so 
awful ! ” 

“ Of course no one knows that he has done 
so,” said Don John; “only he can’t be found. 
The bank directors did not discover the loss 
of the bonds till this afternoon. They were 
looking over the books all the forenoon, but 
were not able to find anything wrong. They 
counted the money and then began to examine 


132 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


the securities. About a hundred men are look- 
ing for him now. I have been searching in the 
mud and water, and I hope you will excuse me, 
ladies, for coming before you in such a plight. 
1 was so busy that I forgot all about the meet- 
ing till just now, and then I could not spare the 
time to go home and change my clothes.” 

“You are very excusable, Don John,” replied 
the president. “ Have you seen Mollie Longi- 
more ? ” 

“I have not ; but Prince Willingood told me 
the family were almost beside themselves with 
grief and terror.” 

“ Poor Mollie ! How I pity her ! ” added Min- 
nie, wiping away the tears that dimmed her 
bright eyes. 

“ It's a terrible hard case for the family,” said 
Don John, with emphasis. 

“But it is not certain yet that Mr. Longi- 
more will not return,” suggested Minnie. “ He 
may have gone somewhere to obtain assistance.” 

“ And taken forty thousand dollars in bonds 
with him ? That is quite impossible. The di- 
rectors are certain that he has either run away 
or committed suicide. I have not seen anybody 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


133 


who believes anything else. Prince says Mrs. 
Longimore and Mollie liave no hope of anything 
better, for the cashier had been worried for some 
time. He is either dead or gone away ; and his 
family are left without a dollar.” 

“ How awful ! ” exclaimed Eva. Can’t we 
do something ? ” 

“ Certainly we can,” said Nellie Patterdale, 
decidedly. ‘‘Every one of us loved poor Mollie 
like a sister, and the family shall not suffer for 
the want of anything.” 

This subject was discussed at considerable 
length, and various plans were suggested for 
assisting the family of the cashier in the most 
delicate way possible, though the details were 
not finally arranged. The abundant sympathy 
of the girls for Mollie led them to believe that 
they could furnish all the aid the stricken family 
would need ; for they felt that if they could 
raise over four hundred dollars for a boat, they 
could obtain ten times that amount for so noble 
and worthy a purpose as the care of the needy 
ones. But they wei-e young and enthusiastic, 
with but httle knowledge of the way of the 
world. It was right to do such a deed, and it 


134 


THE DOECAS CLUB. 


seemed easy enough to them to accomplish it. 
This noble purpose begat a cheerfulness in the 
society, which, at last, brought their minds back 
to the boat. 

“ Don John, we were particularly desirous to 
see you this afternoon,” said the president. 
“We wish to enquire about the boat Avhich you 
have been building. Is it finished ? ” 

“It is all done, and yesterday I had the name 
painted upon the stern, and on each side of the 
bow,” replied the boat-builder. 

“Indeed! What is the name?” inquired 
Minnie. ^ 

“ Doecas.” 

“ That was an odd name for you to give to 
it.” 

“ Not at all, I gave her the name of your 
society, and considering the use to Avhich I in- 
tend to put her, it was the right thing to call 
her.” 

“ Then you have a use for her ? ” asked Min- 
nie, looking a little troubled. 

“I have; and without any ceremony, allow 
me to present the boat to the Dorcas Society,” 
said Don John. 





Pkksidknt was not the only one who wept. Page 130. 







THE DORCAS CLUB. 


135 


“You cannot mean that,” added the presi- 
dent, witli a smile. 

“I certainly do. I talked the matter over 
fully Avith the other member of our firm, — that’s 
my mother, — and we agreed to present her to 
the society.” 

“But, Don John, we are able to buy the 
boat.” 

“ Of course you are ; and, thanks to the good 
people of this city, our firm is now abundantly 
able to present her to this society, which has 
done so mucli good to the poor,” replied Don 
John, modestly. 

“It is too much for you to give.” 

“Not at all; I built her wholly with my own 
hands, when I had nothing else to do. The 
stock did not cost much, and I hope you will 
not refuse to accept her, for any reason. As 
soon as I heard that the young ladies of this 
society wanted a boat, I decided to present her 
to you.” 

Certainly Don John desired to do this grace- 
ful thing for the sole sake of doing it, however 
the srift mio'ht serve him as a “ business card.” 
The boat was accepted by vote, and the thanks 
of the society presented to the donor. 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


1j6 

“ She will be ready for use by to-morrow^ for 
the last coat of paint I put upon her is dry and 
hard,” said the boat-builder. 

But who is to teach us how to row ? ” 
asked Eva. 

“ I move that Don John be invited to be our 
instructor in the art of rowing,” said Ruth 
Hapgood ; “I am sure he knows as much, or 
more, about it than anybod}^ else.” 

This motion was carried with unanimity and 
enthusiasm by the society, and Don John ac- 
cepted the delightful position thus assigned to 
him. 

“ Don John, what is the value of the Dor- 
cas ? ” inquired Nellie. 

“She has no value now; she is beyond price,” 
laughed Don John. 

“But what was the price you fixed for her ? ” 

“When I had concluded to present her to the 
Dorcas society, she rose in value five hundred 
per cent, in my estimation. The pleasure of 
presenting her was worth at least a thousand 
dollars to me.” 

“ But please answer my question. If you had 
wished to sell her, instead of giving her away. 


THE DOKCAS CLUB. 


137 


what should you have asked for her ? ” persisted 
Nellie. 

“I could not have sold her for any money, 
after I knew that this society intended to go 
into boating.” replied Don John, who suspected 
that his fair friend wished, by some indirect 
means, to pay for the Dorcas. 

Didn’t you say, a week ago, that you asked 
two hundred dollars for her ? ” demanded 
Nellie. 

“That was before I knew you wanted a boat ; 
and—” 

“Was that the price of her?” interposed his 
questioner. 

“It was; but — ” 

“No ‘buts,’ if you please, Don John. I wish 
to know for a special purpose, which in no way 
affects you.” 

“ That was the price,” replied the boat-builder, 
wondering what Nellie was driving at. 

“Miss President.” 

“ Miss Patterdale.” 

“I move that the society go into secret ses- 
sion,” added Nellie. 

“Is that a blow aimed at me?” asked Mr. 
Jelley. 


138 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


“No sir ; in consideration of the valuable 
services you have rendered the society, as Mer- 
cury, 'pro you will be ^^ermitted to remain, 

if you will pledge yourself not to reveal what 
is said or done,” said the president. 

“ I pledge my life, my fortune, and my sacred 
honor, not to write, print, utter, say, reveal, 
mention, hint, lisp, mark, dot, engrave, or indi- 
cate a word of what is said or done.” 

“ It is well. Don John, as Mercury, you will 
not disclose any of the private business of the 
society,” added Minnie. 

“Certainly not.” ^ 

The motion to go into secret session was 
carried, and Nellie Patterdale had the floor. 

“I move that two hundred dollars of the 
money contributed for the boat be appropriated 
to aid the family of Mr. Longimore,” continued 
she. 

“Yes, yes, yes!” cried the girls, though 
some of them had already thought that the sum 
collected would enable them to purchase two 
more boats, making three in all. 

The appropriation was made without a dis- 
senting vote. Minnie Darling was appointed a 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


139 


committee of one to disburse the money as she 
thought best, but with instructions to do it pri- 
vately, so as entirely to spare the feelings of 
Mollie and her mother. Nellie desired to use 
the rest of the boat money for the same pur- 
pose, but she thought it wise to defer any 
action in this direction till a future time, having 
some doubt whether or not it was proper to di- 
vert the funds from the purpose for which they 
were given. 

“ Now that we have one boat for our twenty- 
five members, we ought to arrange some plan by 
which we may all have an equal and fair use 
of her,” said the president. 

“How many will the boat hold, Mr. Instruc- 
tor in the art of rowing? ” asked Eva. 

“Five, without any passengers,” replied Don 
John. “ I think you had better have only the 
regular crew while you are learning to row. 
Four at the oars, and one at the tiller lines, are 
the proper -complement for the Dorcas.” 

“Then I think we had better divide ourselves 
into five clubs, each having its own name,” 
suggested Nellie. “The first shall be the Dor- 
cas Club, which shall also be the general name 
of the whole boating society.” 


140 


THE DOECAS CLUB. 


The suggestion found favor with the girls, 
and some time was spent in making the division. 
The little rings of intimate friends formed the 
bases of the several clubs, and the arrangement 
was made without much difficulty. Mollie Longi- 
more was the only member absent, and it so 
happened that four of the five clubs were made 
up at once, while one remained with only four 
members. Naturally enough, the officers of the 
society, who were its executive committee, and 
were, therefore, together a great deal, united as 
one club, and found themselves unable to obtain 
another member. 

“ Mollie is absent,” said Minnie. “ Of course 
she will not wish to row for some time, but we 
will take her.” 

“ O, yes,” exclaimed Eva ; “I am glad to 
have her in our club.” 

“Now each club must have a leader,” inter- 
joosed Don John, when the division had been 
made. “ She will steer the boat, and be the 
commander, the president of the club. Each 
should elect its own leader.” 

The instructor in rowing thought this was 
a better name for the chief than the one usually 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


141 


applied to the office ; and the girls separated in 
different parts of the room to ballot. In some 
of them several ballots were taken, before a 
choice was made ; but in the officers’ club, the 
four votes cast, without any electioneering or 
previous consultation, were for Mollie Longimore. 
The sympathy of the girls for their absent 
friend was so deep and earnest, that they could 
not help manifesting it in all possible wa3"s. 

“ Now, we have five clubs and only one boat,” 
said the president; “and we must fix the time 
for each of us to use her.” 

“ That will give one day in the week for each 
club,” added Nellie ; “ and we have to attend 
the meeting of the society on Tuesdays, so that 
we cannot go on that day.” 

“ That makes an easy thing of it,” replied 
Ruth. “But suppose it should rain on any 
day?” 

“The club for that day must loose its chance, 
I suppose,” answered Nellie. “It will be as fair 
for one as for another, for it does not always 
rain on the same days of the week.” 

This arrangement was agreed to, and Don 
John suggested that the leaders of the clubs 


142 


TI113 DORCAS CLUB. 


draw lots for the days, which was also assented 
to. The instructor wrote the names of the days 
of the week, except Sunday and Tuesday, on as 
many slips of paper, which were to be drawn 
from a book by the leaders. 

“ But we have no names yet,” said Minnie. 
‘‘ Which will be the Dorcas Club ? ” 

“ Yours,” said several members ; and the offi- 
cers’ club, of which Mollie was the leader, was 
designated as the one to retain the general 
name of “Dorcas.” 

“What shall you call your club, Kate Bil- 
der?” asked the president. 

“The Lily,” replied the leader. 

“ Very good. Do you mean the tiger lily, the 
lily of the valley, or the water lily ? ” 

“We. talked about those, but we liked ‘ Lil}^,’ 
simply, better than ‘Water Lily.’” 

“Suit yourself, Kate. Now draw one of the 
slips.” 

The leader of the Lily Club drew one of the 
slips of paper from the book, upon which was 
written the single word “ Monday ; ” and the 
secretary recorded the Lily’s day. 

“Jenny Waite, what is the name of your 
club?” 


THE DOECAS CLUB. 


143 


“Fairy.” 

“Very well; draw.” 

“Saturday.” 

“Your name, Susy Thaxter ? ” 

“ Undine.” 

“ Very appropriate ; draw, if you please,” 
continued the president. 

“ Wednesday.” 

“What shall we call your club, Carrie West?” 

“ Pysche.” 

“Draw.” 

“Friday.” 

“ That’s an unlucky day in the almanac of 
the sailors, but I hope it will not prove so to the 
Pysche Club,” laughed Minnie, “ As the leader 
of the Dorcas Club, is not here, Eva will draw 
the slip for her. It is Hobson’s choice, and 
Thursday is the only day not yet taken.” 

Of course Thursday was drawn for the Dorcas 
Club. The business was hardly finished before 
some one proposed to visit the boat-builder’s 
shop, to see the new boat, and in five minutes 
more the party were on their way. Of course 
the Dorcas was “perfectly splendid,” and the 
exclamation points were as thick as hail-stones 
in a summer shower. 


144 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


“ O, I should like to see her on the water ! ” 
cried Eva Doane. 

“It is a very easy matter to put her into the 
water,” said Don John, prompt to take the hint. 
“But I want a little help, for she must be 
handled carefully. There comes Prince ; he will 
assist me.” 

“ You have bought the boat, I suppose,” said 
Prince, after he had bowed to the young ladies. 

“We have not bought her, but she has been 
presented to us,” replied Minnie Darling. “ Don 
John is as generous as a lord.” 

“ Anything new about Mr. Longimore, Prince?” 
asked Don John willing to change the subject. 

“ His handkerchief was found on one of the 
wharves, and a small row-boat is missing from 
the same place,” replied Prince gloomily. “ They 
have dragged the water all about the wharf, 
but they can’t find him.” 

“ Whose boat was it ? ” 

“I don’t know; they have searched the whole 
water front of the city, without finding it,” 
added Prince. “ Some think he has gone off in 
the boat.” 

“ He could not go a great way in a row- 
boat,” said Don John. 


THE DOECAS CLUB. 


145 


“He may have gone out to drop himself into 
the deep water, and the boat drifted away. At 
any rate, if they can find the boat, it may afford 
some clew to him.” 

“Have you seen Mollie to-day. Prince?” in- 
quired Nellie. 

“ Yes ; after our house was burnt down last 
night, I staid at Mr. Longimore’s ; but I got up 
at seven o’clock, and left the house. I went to 
school as usual, and did not hear anything about 
Mr. Longimore till half past two. I went to 
his house then. Mollie had fainted away half 
a dozen times in the forenoon, but she was 
better when I saw her, though she was as pale 
as a ghost.” 

“ Does she think her father is dead ? ” asked 
Minnie, the tears in her own eyes. 

“She says she is almost sure of it; and if 
her father took the bonds at all, he must have 
been insane when he did so,” continued Prince, 
sadly. “She says she is alone in the world now, 
I think some of you girls ought to go and 
see her.” 

“ Let us go,” Nellie proposed ; but it was 
arranged that only she and Minnie should visit 
10 


146 


THE DOECAS CLUB. 


her then ; and they departed upon their mission 
of sympathy. 

“ I want to put this boat into the water, 
Prince,” said Don John. “Lend us a hand.” 

Though Prince did not feel much interest 
just then in the boat or the Dorcas Club, he 
assisted to put the pretty barge in the water. 
She sat upon the tide like a fairy, as she was. 
The builder brought the oars, which were 
“spoons,” made of pine, and very light. 

“ If the Lily Club will take their places, we 
will see how she works,” added Don John. 

“ Goody ! goody ! ” cried the members of that 
club. 

“Steady!” shouted the instructor in rowing. 
“You will upset the boat, and tumble your- 
selves into the drink, if you board her in that 
style. When you get into a boat, you should 
do it as calmly as you would step on eggs. See 
where you are going to put your foot, and then 
put it there.” 

Don John helped the members of the Lily 
Club to their seats, and getting in himself, 
shoved the Dorcas far out from the shore. 

“ Before you do anything, young ladies, I 


THE DOECAS CLUB. 


147 


want to talk to you a moment,” said he, smil- 
ing at the novelty of his position. 

“ What am I to do ? ” asked Kate Bilder, im- 
patiently. 

“You are to keep cool, and do nothing. 
When the girls can pull, you will steer,” replied 
Don John. “Now you will each take an oar, 
if you please, and stand it up straight before 
you.”- 

“Why, the oars are as light as a feather,” 
said one of the crew. 

“Well, I got them on purpose for you. They 
are made of soft pine, but they are strong 
enough, if you handle them carefully. Those 
who pull the starboard oars — ” 

“Starboard?” queried one of the fair rowists. 

“ The starboard is the right, and the port the 
left side of the boat, looking forward,” explained 
the instructor, very patiently. “You are all 
sitting backward, so that the port oars are on 
your right, and the starboard on your left. I 
will give each of you a number. The after, or 
stroke, oar is No. 1. That’s you, Maggie 
Bowen.” 

“Two,” said Ella Haven. 


148 


THE DOECAS CLUB. 


“Three,” added Julia Gray. 

“ Four,” continued Louise Winn. 

“ Four is the bow oar,” explained Don John. 
“ The even numbers pull the starboard oars, 
and the odd the port oars. The starboard 
rowers will take the handle of the oar with the 
right hand, and the loom by the left.” 

“What is the loom?” asked Julia. 

“ An oar has three parts ; the handle is the 
small part which you grasp in your hands ; the 
blade is the flat part, and the loom is the por- 
tion next to the handle, which is inboard when 
you row. The port rowers will take the handle 
in the left hand, and the loom with the right. 
That’s it. Now, Miss Bilder, you are the leader, 
and will give the orders. When she says, ‘ Boat 
your oars 1 ’ you will all drop your oars together 
into the boat, by the gunwale, or rail. Now!” 

“ Boat your oars ! ” said Kate. 

Being the first time, of course it was done 
very clumsily. 

“You should all drop them together,” said 
Don John. “We will try that over again. 
When the leader says, ‘ Ready,’ you will grasp 
the oars, as I told you. At the command, ‘ Up 
oars I ’ you will raise them all as one.” 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


1-19 


“ Ready ! Up oars ! ” repeated Kate Bilder ; 
and the oars went up very well. 

The two evolutions were repeated several 
times, till they were performed together. 

“ The next order will be, ‘ Let fall,’ ” continued 
the instructor, while the fair rowists held the 
oars up perpendicularly before them. “ At the 
command, you will let the blade of the oar fall 
into the water, with the spoon, or curve at the 
end of it, turned up. As you do so, raise the 
handle, so that the oar shall not fall upon the 
gunwale. Slip it into the rowlock, and you are 
ready for business. Now try it.” 

“ Let fall ! ” said the leader, who was a very 
apt scholar. 

“Very well, indeed!” exclaimed Don John. 
“To get the oars back again to a perpendicular, 
the command is, ‘ Toss.’ Try it again, if you 
please.” 

“ Toss ! ” said Kate ; and up went the oars. 

“ Capital 1 ” 

“Let fall!” added Kate; and she practiced 
the crew on all of the evolutions they had 
learned, till they did very well for beginners. 

“ Now we will pull a little ; but I wish you 


150 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


to take but one stroke in four movements. 
Place the oar so that the spoon is just out of 
the water. Push the handle away from you, 
at arms’ length ; this is one. Two, raise the 
handle just enough to sink the blade into the 
water, so as to cover the spoon. Three, pull. 
Four, drop the handle till the blade is out of 
the water.” 

Don John repeated his instructions several 
times, and then required each girl to do it 
alone, till she had the movement. After this 
they tried it all together, but the girls were so 
much excited when the Dorcas began to move 
through the water, that not much proficiency 
could be attained. 

“ Here endeth the first lesson,” said the instruc- 
tor, as soon as the rowers were able to pull a 
dozen strokes together. 

The Lily Club returned to the shore delighted 
with this slight foretaste of the pleasures in 
store for them. 

“It’s real fun!” said Kate Bilder to her 
companions, who had been watching the experi- 
ment on the shore, as she joined them, and 
they walked towards home together. 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


151 


CHAPTER VIII. 

THE cashier’s FAMILY. 

P RINCE WILLINGOOD had lost all the 
hooks he carried home in the fire, and if 
he had possessed any more clothes than those 
into which he had so hastily put himself when 
the alarm was given, he would have lost them. 
Having little or nothing to lose, he lost little or 
nothing by saving his uncle rather than his 
books, his two or three shirts, and a couple of 
pairs of coarse socks. It had never struck him 
so before, but doubtless he was fortunate in 
having so little to lose. Happy are they that 
have nothing to lose, for they shall lose nothing, 
and poverty has sometimes its compensating 
advantages, though, on the whole, it is not con- 
venient and comfortable to be poor. Certainly 
no one would desire to be poor for the sake of 
escaping loss by fire. Of the brass kettle and 


152 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


the valubles in the cellar, Prince knew nothing, 
and therefore he had no regrets for them. 

He waited till the fire had consumed the 
house in which the greater part of his cheerless 
life had been passed. There was nothing left 
of it but a few smouldering embers, which the 
firemen were drenching with water, and which 
were soon as black and cold as the night itself. 
Several of the neighbors had offered him the 
hospitality of their houses, and he had accepted 
that of the cashier, who showed him to the 
spare chamber of his unpretentious dwelling. He 
heard Mr. Longimore go out again, as he was 
getting into bed, and presently distinguished his 
voice and that of his uncle, as they spoke to- 
gether in the street. He could not tell what 
they said, but he readily understood that the 
miser was bitterly bemoaning his loss, and prob- 
ably the cashier was trying to comfort him. But 
Prince was tired, and he soon dropped asleep. 

When he awoke in the morning, he heard the 
clock strike seven. He had intended to get up 
earlier, in order to ascertain, before he went to 
school, what his uncle desired to do in regard 
to his future residence, and to assist him, if he 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


153 


could. When he went down stairs, he was 
kindly greeted by Mrs. Longimore and Molhe, 
who had not before been aware of his presence 
in the house. Breakfast was all ready, and the 
family appeared to be waiting for the cashier. 
Prince said he would go and see what had be- 
come of his uncle. 

“ But don’t go till after breakfast. Prince,” 
interposed Mrs. Longimore. “ It is all ready, 
and we are only waiting for father to come 
in.” 

“ I thank you, Mrs. Longimore ; but I think 
I will not remain,” replied the young man. 
“ My uncle may want me.” 

‘‘ He must be at the house of one of the 
neighbors, and he will stay there till after break- 
fast.” 

“ No ; I heard him say he should stay at the 
vacant house down the street.” 

“ But that is not furnished ; he could not stay 
there.” 

“ I only know what he said.” 

“But there will be no breakfast there for you,” 
persisted the good lady. 

“Why can’t you stay. Prince?” added Mol- 


154 


THE DOBCAS CLUB. 


lie. “We shall all be very glad to have you 
do so,” 

“ And I will not keep you waiting,” con- 
tinued Mrs. Longimore, proceeding to place the 
breakfast upon the table. “We will sit down, 
and father will be here in a few moments. He 
sometimes goes over to the bank before break- 
fast ; but he always comes home punctually at 
seven o’clock. I can’t think what keeps him. 
Perhaps Mr. Bushwell wanted to see him about 
the fire.” 

Prince yielded to these pressing invitations, 
and partook of the meal with the family. When 
it was finished, Mr. Longimore had not appeared ; 
but neither his wife nor his daughter felt any 
anxiety in regard to him. 

“ Our house is always open to you. Prince ; 
and I hope you will stay with us till your uncle 
gets settled again,” said Mrs. Longimore. 

“ Thank you ; but I think the vacant house 
will be ready for us to sleep in by night, replied 
Prince, as he left the hospitable home of his 
friends. 

He walked down the street to the dwelling 
where Fox Bushwell had taken refuge from the 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


155 


cold and the night. Mrs. Pining was already 
there ; for as soon as she finished her breakfast, 
she hastened, with fear and trembling, to ascer- 
tain whether the money-lender was ruined or 
not, or whether or not the few hundred dollars 
which constituted all her worldly wealth was 
hopelessly lost. She was as miserable then as 
even Mrs. Pining could be, and her capacity for 
being miserable was immense. The pine bureau 
in the old house, which had contained her very 
limited wardrobe, had been burned. Even the 
note which Fox Bushwell had given her for the 
money he owed her was destroyed. She had had 
only time to save her own withered frame, when 
the alarm was given. 

“Sufferin’, dyin’ world! ” moaned she, as Fox 
Bushwell admitted her to the vacant house. 
“ Everything’s gone to ruin ; and there ain’t no 
hope o’ nothing in this world.” 

“ It isn’t so bad as it might be, Mrs. Pining.” 
replied Fox Bushwell. “ I had a thousand dol- 
lars insurance on the house ; and that’s a thing 
I never had till about a month ago. But that 
isn’t anything to what I’ve lost. It won’t begin 
to cover the loss,” he added as if troubled 
by a suspicion that he had admitted too much. 


156 


THE DOECAS CLUB. 


“ There ain’t no peace for the wicked in this 
world, goodness knows!” groaned Mrs. Pining, 
not much comforted by the words of the money- 
lender. “ My two lace caps is both gone I I 
never wore ’em only when I went visitin’; and 
now I hain’t got nothing to wear. My black 
gown I wore to Ezra’s funeral is gone to dust 
and ashes, and I hain’t got nothin’ but the cal- 
liker I got on, when the smoke eena’most 
choked me. My stockin’s, my flannel petticoat, 
and my wallet, with two dollars o’ money in it, 
’s all gone, and I shan’t git no good on ’em I 
Sufferin’, dyin’ ! What are we cornin’ to?” 

“ I lost a good deal more than you have, Mrs. 
Pining. I don’t know but I’m ruined — I can’t 
tell yet. We must bear up in times of affliction, 
and try to be resigned.” 

“ I can’t be resigned ; and tain’t no use to 
try. Dyin’ world! I hain’t got nothin’ left,” 
groaned the widow, wiping the tears from her 
sunken eyes with the handkerchief found in the 
pocket of the “ calliker.” “You owe me four 
hundred dollars, Mr. Bushwell.” 

This last remark was hurled with energy at 
the head of the money-lender, while the old lady 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


157 


fixed a gaze of tlie most pitiful anxiety upon 
him. She did not say that the note had been 
burned ; perhaps she knew her employer too 
well to make such a damaging admission. 

“It isn’t worth while to say anything about 
that just now,” replied Fox Bush well. “We are 
all in affliction. My house and all that I have 
are burned; but the Lord tempers the wind to 
the shorn lamb.” 

“ You ain’t the shorn lamb, Mr. Bushwell ! 
I’m that creetur ! ” grojined Mrs. Pining. “ I’m 
shorn of all my wool — my woollen stockin’s, 
my flannel petticoat, my bombazine gown 
and—” 

“We will not speak of those things now, 
Mrs. Pining. Trust in the Lord, and he will 
help you,”* replied the miser, evasively. 

“ I know that ; but you told me that the Lord 
don’t help nobody but those that helps them- 
selves ; and I want some o’ that money you owe 
me, to buy some things with right off. Suf- 
ferin’, dyin’ ! I hain’t got nothing to wear!” 

“ I’m not ready to speak of such things yet. 
I’m in affliction ; I’m suffering under a terrible 
loss.” 


158 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


‘‘Don’t you owe me four hundred dollars, 
Mr. Bushwell?” demanded Mrs. Pining. 

“ What if I do ? I’m in no condition to pay 
it now.” 

At that moment Prince entered the room, and 
heard his uncle’s reply. 

“ Did you hear that, Prince ? ” she asked, turn- 
ing sharply upon the young man. 

“Hear what?” 

“ What your uncle said.” 

“I did.” 

“You heard him say he owed me four hun- 
dred dollars — didn’t you ? ” 

“ I heard him say what amounted to that,” 
replied Prince, quietly. 

“But I said I could not pay her now,” pro- 
tested Fox Bushwell. 

“ I don’t want the whole on’t now. I hain’t 
had nothin’ for two year ; and I want the in- 
terest on’t now.” 

“Very well; I will pay you the interest to- 
day or to-morrow, or as soon as I can get my 
insurance,” whined Fox Bushwell. 

“ You hear. Prince,” gasped Mrs. Pining. 
“ Your uncle’s note I had was burnt up in the 
fire ; and I wanted to know how I stood.” 


THE D0RC4S CLUB. 


159 


“It was!” exclaimed the money-lender, with 
the feeling that he had been very weak in 
admitting the debt, though he had never given 
the housekeeper credit for the strategy she had 
exercised. 

“Yes, it was; and two dollars o’ money 
besides.” 

Fox Bush well had admitted that he owed the 
money in the presence of a witness. It was 
too late to recede, and he did not attempt to 
do so. 

“ Uncle Bushwell, my books were burned, and 
some other things ; and I should like my ten 
dollars for next month now,” said Prince, when 
Mrs. Fining’s case was settled. 

“Ten dollars again!” gasped the guardian. 

“ For next month.” 

“ This isn’t the time to ask for money. I was 
burned out last night, and lost nearly every- 
thing I have in the world.” 

“Not quite so bad as that. You have money 
in the bank.” 

“ I can’t let you have it now.” 

“ Then I must borrow it, which will compel 
me to say that I could not get the money of 


160 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


you,” added Prince, wlio knew very well that 
his uncle’s loss by the fire was trivial, compared 
with his possessions. 

Fox Bush well groaned and parleyed for some 
time, hut at last he took the ten dollars from 
his pocket and gave it to his ward. 

“What’s going to he done, uncle Bushwell?” 
asked Prince, as he put the money away. 

“ I don’t know yet. We must live in this 
house ; and I shall lose the rent of it, or the 
chance to sell it, till I can build up the other. 
I heard yesterday that Captain Seeboard was 
going out west, and wanted to sell his furniture. 
I shall try to buy it, if he will sell it cheap 
enough,” replied Fox Bushwell. “ Everything’s 
going to ruin with me. I don’t know where I’m 
coming out.” 

“ You haven’t lost much, if the house was 
insured,” added Prince. 

“ More than you have any idea of. I was 
poor before, and I’m poorer now.” 

“Were your papers burned, uncle?” 

“ Some of them were. I don’t know yet what 
I have lost.” 

Fox Bushwell was not inchned to talk on this 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


161 


subject, and Prince left him, to go to school. 
On the way, he bought new books and station- 
ery, to replace what had been destroyed. His 
written exercises, prepared with so much care 
on that Monday evening, were all burned ; but 
of course he was excused from the recitations, 
and, in the course of the day, he re-wrote them. 

At recess the talk among the scholars was in 
regard to the fire, and Prince was obliged to 
answer the same questions a hundred times. 
Mollie Longimore was absent that day, and there 
were many inquries in regard to her, to which 
no one was able to reply. After school. Prince, 
concluding there would be no dinner in the new 
house for him, went to a restaurant for the 
meal. There, for the first time, he heard of the 
disappearance of Mr. Longimore. No one had 
seen him that day, and his keys of the bank 
and the vault could not be found. The porter 
had opened the rooms as usual, but no cashier 
had made his appearance. The president, who 
had duplicate keys of the vault, had been away, 
and did not return till noon, so that no business 
could be done before his return. Those in the 
saloon had not heard what transpired after the 
arrival of the president. (10 


1C2 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


Prince was thunderstruck at this intelligence, 
and hardly, by his eating, indorsed the dinner 
set before him. As soon as he had finished his 
meal, though he did not “ finish ” the food he 
had ordered, he hastened to the bank for fur- 
ther information. The directors had just com- 
pleted their examination of the affairs of the 
institution. The books showed that the cashier’s 
personal account was balanced ; the cash was all 
right; but, on looking over the securities, it was 
found that the package of bonds was missing. 
This discovery seemed to explain the absence of 
the cashier. 

The directors were wealthy men, and they 
were really more troubled by the fall of such a 
man as they had always believed the cashier to 
be than by the loss of the property. No one 
remembered to have seen the package for a 
month, and they could form no idea as to when 
it had been removed from the vault. No one 
knew of any speculations in which the cashier 
had been engaged, and no motive for his villany 
could be assigned. 

Mr. Longimore was gone, and the bonds were 
«;ne. This was all that was known ; but it was 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


163 


enough to satisfy the directors. In the mean 
time a diligent search was in progress for the 
missing cashier ; but ^ without any other result 
than has before been mentioned. 

The first intimation of the stunning blow 
which fell upon the unhappy family of Mr. 
Longimore was given when the porter went to 
the house, at nine o’clock, to inquire where 
the cashier was. The poor wife and the terri- 
fied daughter — the only ones in that sad home 
who were old enough to understand and appre- 
ciate the possible calamity — were almost para- 
lyzed when they learned that the father had not 
been at the bank since seven in the morning. 
Mrs. Longimore had not seen him since he went 
out to the fire at midnight. He had not come 
to his chamber after that event. She had seen 
the letter on the table, stamped, and directed to 
her husband’s brother, which she had sent to 
the post-office immediately after breakfast. She 
had called in her neighbors for help, and her 
kind and sympathizing friends had searched the 
city over for the absent one. 

As soon as Prince had obtained all the infor- 
mation that was to be had at the bank, he 


164 


THE DOECAS CLUB. 


hastened to the home of the cashier, intent only 
upon assisting and comforting his family, with 
whom he had long been intimate* The fact that 
forty thousand dollars in bonds was missing had 
already been borne to Mrs. Longimore and her 
daughter ; indeed, two of the directors had been 
there to search the house for them. The suspi- 
cion that the cashier had wrongfully appropri- 
ated the property was infinitely more terrible 
than the assurance of his death would have 
been to those loving ones. Mollie had fainted 
twice; but when Prince entered the house the 
effect of the shock had passed away, though the 
mother and daughter suffered hardly less, if their 
demonstrations were not so violent. 

“ I am glad to see you. Prince. Perhaps you 
can tell us something about him,” said Mrs. 
Longimore. 

“Indeed, I know nothing but what I have 
just heard at the bank,” replied he gloomily. 
“ I was never so shocked and astonished in mv 
life.” 

“When did you see Mr. Longimore last?” 

“I saw him at the fire; and he came up to 
the house with me. He showed me up to the 


THE DOKCAS CLUB. 


165 


room. That was the last I saw of him. He 
had some business with my uncle in the evening, 
and I signed my name as a witness to some 
papers which passed between them.” 

“ What papers were they ? ” asked Mrs. Lon- 
gimore, with interest. 

don’t know what they were; I didn’t stop 
to read them. 

“ Then your uncle knows.” 

“ Of course he does.” 

“ I must see Mr. Bush well at once,” 

“ Can I do anything to help you ? ” inquired 
Prince. “I am willing to do everything I can.” 

“ I wish you would go with me to your 
uncle,” added the poor wife. 

“ I will, and he shall tell you all about the 
papers,” replied Prince. 

But before they left the house, Mr. Doane, 
the president of the bank, came in. Mrs. Lon- 
gimore told him what Prince had said ; and any- 
thing which promised to throw light upon the 
conduct of the cashier was full of interest. Mr. 
Doane decided to accompany them to the new 
home of the money-lender. They found Fox 
Bushwell and Mrs. Pining busily engaged in 


166 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


arranging a load of second-hand furniture, which 
had just been delivered at the house. The miser 
had bouglit out the contents of Captain See- 
board’s house for a mere song, so anxious was 
the late owner of it to start for his new loca- 
tion in the west. The articles were very plain, 
and most of them much worn ; in fact, they 
were not much better than those which had 
been destroyed in the fire of the night before. 

“You seem to be very busy, Mr. Bushwell ; 
but we must disturb you for a short time,” said 
Mr. Doane. 

“ I can’t stop for anything now,” replied Fox 
Bushwell, furtively ; and it must be acknowledged 
that the president of the bank was not a wel- 
come visitor at the new home. 

“We will not detain you long ; and I think 
you and Mrs. Pining need a little rest.” 

“Sufferin’, dyin’ ! Goodness knows I need 
it ! ” added the housekeeper. 

“ I heard that you had some business with 
Mr. Longimore last evening,” continued Mr. 
Doane. 

“I don’t know that it concerns anybody but 
the cashier and me,” whined Fox Bushwell. 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


167 


“I don’t know that it does; hut you will find 
it for your interest, under present circumstances, 
to tell what it was,” added the president, rather 
sharply, for he kneAv his man too Avell to stand 
upon any ceremony with him. “ Some papers 
passed between you and him last evening.” 

“There wasn’t anything wrong about that — 
was there?” 

“ I don’t know yet. What were those papers?” 
demanded Mr. Doane. 

“ Well, you see, Mr. Longimore got into a 
little difficulty.” 

Fox Bushwell paused, as if doubtful whether 
it was prudent for him to proceed. Mrs. Lon- 
gimore actually trembled with emotion, and 
wiped away the tears that blinded her eyes, for 
the money-lender’s statement, so far, seemed to 
confirm her worst fears. 

“What was the difficulty?” asked the presi- 
dent, sharply. 

“ He said he hadn’t stole anything from the 
bank, or done anything wrong,” mumbled Fox 
Bushwell. 

“Did he say that? ” exclaimed the poor wife^ 

“ That’s just what he said; and I don’t believe 
he ever did anything out of the way.” 


168 


THE DOECAS CLUB. 


“ But what were the papers that passed be- 
tween you?” repeated Mr. Doane, impatiently. 

“ I was just going to tell you. Mr. Longi- 
more got into a little difficulty.” 

“You said that before.” 

“He has had a good deal of sickness in his 
family, and had to pay a good deal of money 
for doctor’s bills.” 

“ How well I know it ! ” sighed Mrs. Longi- 
more. 

“ I don’t believe in paying so much money to 
doctors. They can’t do much good; and we are 
all in the Lord’s hands.” 

“ Will you tell me what the papers were, or 
shall I take the next step?” interposed the 
president. “ You said Mr. Longimore got into 
a little difficulty. Now, go on.” 

“ The long and the short of it is, he had 
overdrawn his wages. He owed the bank five 
hundred and twenty dollars. Mr. Longimore 
was honest; nobody can say he was not.” 

“I saw that his account had been balanced 
by the payment of five hundred and twenty dol- 
lars ; and I found your check for that amount.” 

“ I let him have the money, and he gave me 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


169 


his note,” added Fox Biishwell; he did not say 
for how much. 

“What was the other paper?” demanded Mr. 
Doane, as if he had a right to know. 

“ That was the security he gave me,” replied 
the money-lender, with a doubtful glance at the 
cashier’s Avife. 

“What Avas the security?” 

“I don’t think that makes any difference.” 

Mr. Doane insisted upon knoAving, and Fox 
BusliAvell said that it Avas a bill of sale of the 
cashier’s furniture and piano. Then the amount 
of the note Avas wrung from him ; and the presi- 
dent was utterly disgusted. 

“When did you see Mr. Longimore last?” 
asked he. 

“I saAv him at the fire.” 

“ Was that the last time?” 

“Well, no, it Avas not,” Avhined the miser. 

“ When Avas the last time ? ” 

“ He came here about daylight this morning, 
to bring me a bundle of papers I left at the 
bank,” replied Fox BusliAvell, taking the pack- 
age from his pocket. 

Mr. Doane examined the papers very care- 


170 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


fully, and assured himself that not a single bond 
was among them. 

“What did he say to you?” 

“Nothing at all. He gave me the papers, 
and left right off.” 

“ Did he say where he was going ? ” 

“Not a word; but I thought he looked and 
acted very wild,” said the money-lender. 

“Why did he bring you these papers at such 
a time ? ” 

“ I don’t know ; he said I might want them, 
I think. Then he went off.” 

Fox Bushwell stuck to his text, and the presi- 
dent left the house apparently satisfied. Mrs. 
Longimore could obtain no further information 
from him, and she went home, with the knowl- 
edge that the furniture and piano were to be 
taken from her in ten days. Prince went down 
to the boat-builder’s, to assist him in searching 
for the body of the cashier. 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


171 


CHAPTER IX. 

WHAT THE DORCAS SOCIETY DID. 

H owever fascinated with boats the mem- 
bers of the Dorcas Society had become, 
they had no thought of abandoning the original 
object of the association, which was to do good 
to the needy. Their labors had not been con- 
fined to the perishing classes ; to those who 
may be publicly assisted with food and cloth- 
ing ; but the society even had a precedent for 
its action in the case of the Longimores. A 
lady, who had supported her invalid mother by 
teaching in one of the public schools, was obliged 
to resign her situation on account of her own 
ill health. She was too proud to ask for help 
when her scanty means failed, but Nellie Pat- 
terdale, who had once been her pupil, called 
to see her, and discovered enough to satisfy her 
that her old teacher was actually suffering from 


172 


THE DOECAS CLUB. 


want. She stated the case to the Dorcas Society, 
and a sum of money for tl\e poor invalid was 
raised among the nabobs as privately as the 
boat money had been levied, and without tlie 
knowledge of the public, over a hundred dollars 
was placed in the hands of the invalid. 

While the Lily Club were taking their first 
lesson in rowing, Nellie Patterdale and Minnie 
Darling called at the house of the cashier. Mrs. 
Longimore and Mollie were tolerably calm, 
though they had learned that even the furniture 
in the house was to be taken from them in a 
few days. Their eyes were red with weeping, 
but their tears had ceased to flow, and they 
seemed to be waiting for the calamity to spend 
itself upon them. Poor Mollie, without giving 
them expression, had begun to think great 
thoughts. While her mother was at Fox Bush- 
well’s, she was considering the plan of obtaining 
young pupils on the piano, and she was sure 
that her friends would help her to obtain them. 
It was a relief to her to think that she could thus 
save her mother and the children from po^dtive 
want. Her mother came back with the sad 
intelligence that every article of furniture in ^he 


THE DOECAS CLUB. 


173 


house was owned by the money-lender, Oven to 
the piano, upon which she depended fo.* the 
future. Though she might give the lessons at 
the homes of her pupils, she needed the instru- 
ment for her own practice. Under these civ- 
cumstances, it was little that Nellie and Mii\ 
nie could say to comfort Mollie and her mother, 

“ I cannot believe that my husband took 
those bonds,” said Mrs Longimore. “It is less 
painful for me to believe that he is dead, than 
that he has done so great a wrong.” 

“ I cannot believe it, mother ! ” exclaimed 
Mollie, trembling with emotion. “You do not 
believe it, Nellie ? ” 

“I am not willing to believe it,” replied Nel- 
lie. ? ” 

“ My father was always so good and so kind ! 
I am sure he would not do anything wrong. I 
know there is some terrible mistake. If the 
bonds are gone, some one else took them.” 

The visitors could not say anything. Without 
knowing much about the facts, they could not 
help feeling that appearances were altogether 
against the cashier. 

“ I can only hope for the best,” added Mrs. 


174 


THE HOECAS CLUB. 


Longimore. “ It appears that my husband had 
overdrawn his salary. He did not say anything 
to me, but he was terribly worried. Our ex- 
penses were very large during the winter, and 
he was in debt before. But rather than wrong 
the bank out of a single dollar, he borrowed 
enough of Mr. Bushwell to make himself square 
with the bank. I cannot think lie would have 
done this, if he intended to leave, aAd take 
those bonds.” 

‘‘It is very strange,” said Nellie. 

“No man was more devoted to his family 
than Mr. Longimore ; but he gave a bill of sale 
of all the furniture in the house, rather than 
even seem to wrong the bank,” pleaded the 
poor wife. “ I cannot understand it.” 

“Did he sell your furniture?” asked Minnie 
Darling. 

“ I don’t exactly comprehend the matter, but 
I believe that Mr. Bushwell can take every- 
thing we have in the house, if the note my 
husband gave is not paid in ten days.” 

“That is awful!” exclaimed Nellie, satisfied 
that even the Dorcas Society, with all its 
resources, could not meet ‘ so grave a case as 
this. 







I 



THE DOKCAS CLHB. 


175 


“ I haven’t a single dollar in the house, and 
our bills at the provision store and the gro- 
cery are unpaid,” added Mrs. Longimore, with 
a shudder. 

Nellie looked at Minnie, and the look was 
interpreted to mean, “Now is your time to 
act.” 

“We are very sorry,” said Nellie, tenderly. 
“We have done nothing but think of MoUie 
since we heard what had happened.” 

“You are very kind, Minnie, to think of us. 
I don’t know what will become of us. Mr. 
Bushwell is a hard man, and of course he will 
take all our things, if the money is not paid,” 
added the cashier’s wife. “Even if he don’t, I 
have not the courage to send to the butcher and 
the grocer for what I know I have no means 
of paying for. I have no friends who are able 
to help me, but — ” 

The remark was cut short by the president 
of the Dorcas Society, who stepped up to Mrs. 
Longimore, and presented to her one of the 
white envelopes, which contained one hundred 
dollars. It was directed to the cashier’s wife, 
and had been prepared to be delivered to her 


176 


THE DOECAS CLHB. 


in the best way the circumstances would per- 
mit. 

“What is this?” asked Mrs. Longimore, 
turning the envelope over very curiously, as 
though she feared it contained the news of an 
additional calamity. 

“It will speak for itself; and I hope you will 
not be offended,” added Nellie. “No one but 
our society knows anything about this business.” 

The afflicted lady opened the envelope, and 
took out the bills, and the note it contained, 
which she read. The tears flowed afresh from 
her eyes as she did so ; and Mollie, when she 
saw the roll of bills, readily comprehended the 
meaning of the note. Perhaps she blushed ; 
certainly she wept with her mother. 

“ I know not what to say,” stammered Mrs. 
Longimore. “ I was not prepared to ask for 
assistance, even of my husband’s relatives, some 
of whom are in good circumstances.” 

“You have not asked for it; but it has come 
without asking,” replied Minnie. “We are a 
thousand times happier to offer you this aid than 
you can be to receive it.” 

“I do not feel willing to take this money,” 
said Mrs. Longimore. 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


177 


“Do not, mother,” added Mollie. 

“You will grieve us very much if you do 
not,” persisted Minnie. 

Nellie related the whole story of the raising 
of the money for the boat, and of the vote 
appropriating a portion of it for the Longi- 
mores. 

“You must take it,” said Minnie, warmly. 
“We must do just what we are ordered by the 
society, and we have no power to take it back. 
We hope things will be brighter with you ; and 
when you are able, you may return the money 
to the society.” 

“ I will take it as a loan,” answered Mrs. 
Longimore, when she thought again that, with- 
out it, her children must go to bed hungry. 

“And you must not mention that you received 
it, for every one of our society is pledged to 
secrecy.” 

“You have removed one heavy load from my 
mind,” replied the poor lady, wiping away her 
tears. ‘ If my husband is alive, he will surely 
return, and I shall consider this debt a sacred 
one.” 

“ Don’t do that ; don’t think of paying it,” 

12 


178 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


added Minnie. “We have more for you as soon 
as you need it.” 

“I am sure no one ever had such kind 
friends,” sobbed Mollie. 

“You must he as kind as they are, then, and 
permit them to do all they can for you. This 
is really the greatest kindness you can do them. 
All the girls love you, Mollie, and they pity 
you in your grief more than they can tell,” 
said Nellie, taking the little hand of the troubled 
maiden. 

“ I did not think I should ever need your 
help,” added poor Mollie. 

“ As you have done for others, now let others 
do for you,” pleaded Nellie, as she and Minnie 
left the house. 

In the street they met Prince, who was going 
home after the unavailing search for the body 
of the cashier. They asked him about the bill 
of sale ; but he knew no more than the Longi- 
mores concerning the transaction. The cashier 
had agreed to pay one hundred dollars for the 
use of five hundred and twenty for ten days. 
The bill of sale was dated ten days ahead, and, 
without any further steps, the furniture would 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 179 

belong to the money-lender at the expiration of 
that time. 

“But will your uncle take the furniture away 
from the poor family in ten days?” asked 
Minnie. 

“ I never knew him to let up on a debtor 
yet,” replied Prince. “He is a Shylock, and 
would take the pound of flesh, if it were his 
due.” 

“It is awful to think of! Why, he will turn 
them out of house and home ! ” 

“He is used to such things.” 

“ But cannot something be done ? ” asked 
Nellie. 

“ I don’t know ; we will see. If I can pre- 
vent him from taking the things, you may be 
sure I should do so,” said Prince, decidedly. 
“ For my part, I don’t see what is to become 
of the family. I hear that Mr. Longimore was 
in debt besides what he owed the bank ; and I 
don’t believe they have anything to live on.’' 

Prince Avas really troubled about this matter. 
He Avished he Avas twenty-one, and had his 
property in his own hands ; he could solve the 
problem then without troubling any one. But 


180 


THE DOECAS CLUB. 


he might as well try to squeeze milk out of a 
paving-stone as to get money enough for the 
occasion out of his guardian. Minnie looked at 
Nellie, and smiled. 

“ Shall I ? ” said she, mysteriously. 

“Yes; he is our Mercury more than any 
other hoy,” replied Nellie. 

Under the promise of secrecy, the president 
told him what the Dorcas Society had done. 
Prince was rejoiced ; and, as he was a constant 
visitor at the house of the Longimores, he 
promised to look after them, and agreed to do 
whatever work they might require. He would 
have done all this without a suggestion from 
any one ; hut he was willing to give the Dorcas 
Society the entire credit of taking care of the 
sufferers. 

It was quite dark when he reached the new 
home of his uncle. So hard had Fox Bushwell 
and the housekeeper worked during the after- 
noon, that the house was in condition to he 
occupied. The cooking-stove and the bedsteads 
had been put up, and the rest of the furniture 
placed. Supper was ready, and Prince partook 
of the meal with them. Though it consisted of 


THE DOKCAS CLUB. 


181 


tea, baker’s bread and butter, it was better than 
usual, for Mrs. Pining had had no opportunity 
to spoil good “ rye and Indian ” by making 
them into loaves. 

“What’s the news. Prince?” asked Fox 
Bushwell as they seated themselves at the table. 

“ There is nothing more,” replied the young 
man. “No trace of Mr. Longimore has been 
found.” 

“ Somebody said his handkerchief had been 
found on a wharf, and that a boat was missing : 
is that so ? ” 

“ Yes ; and the boat was kept at the wharf 
where the handkerchief was found,” added 
Prince. 

“I think there isn’t much doubt that he has 
drowned himself.” 

“Why should he drown himself?” 

“Because he had taken the bonds, and was 
afraid of exposure. I am inclined to think he 
was insane. He looked as wild as a hawk when 
he came to me in the morning,” said the money- 
lender. 

“If he drowned himself, do you suppose he 
had the bonds with him when he did so ? ” 
asked Prince. 


182 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


“ I don’t know ; I can’t form any idea. It is 
the strangest thing I ever heard of in all my 
life.” 

“If he meant to run away, or commit suicide, 
why did he borrow that money of you to square 
his accounts with the bank ? ” 

“That’s what puzzles me,” added Fox Bush- 
well. “ I didn’t want to lend him that money. 
I didn’t feel safe to do it. I wouldn’t have 
done it, if he hadn’t helped me about my 
business.” 

“And he was to pay you a hundred dollars 
for the use of it for ten days ? ” queried Prince, 
who did not quite comprehend his uncle’s way 
of doing a friend a favor. 

“ It was risky business, you see.” 

“ When he gave you a bill of sale of his 
furniture ? ” 

“ That kind of security isn’t worth much. 
Prince. Why, I gave only a hundred and fifty 
dollars for all I got of Captain Seeboard.” 

“Well, I should say that’s aU it’s worth,” 
added the young man, glancing around at the 
well-worn articles in the kitchen. • 

“I couldn’t have bought it new for four 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


183 


hundred. After I heard that Longimore had 
gone off, I thought I would wait ten days, and 
then his furniture will be mine, if the note 
isn’t paid ; and it won’t be now, of course. 
But I can’t afford to have such things in my 
house as the cashier had, though I don’t believe 
they’ll bring five hundred dollars at auction, 
with the piano in the lot.” 

“ How much would you lose then ? ” asked 
Prince, quietly. 

“ The note is for six hundred and twenty.” 

“ That is a hundred more than you lent him,” 
added Prince quietly. 

‘Ht was his own offer. I didn’t want to 
lend him the money at any rate. It was too 
risky,” replied Fox Bush well, in his whining 
tones. “ He said his brother would let him have 
the money to pay me.” 

“Suppose he does not?” 

“Then I suppose I must lose part of it.” 

“Shall you take the furniture?” 

“Take it? Why not? I can’t afford to lose 
the debt.” 

“ It would be to bad to take everything from 
the house of the poor family.” 


184 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


“ It would be too bad for me to lose the 
debt,” retorted the money-lender. “ I can’t be 
sentimental when I’ve lost my house by fire.” 

If the young man had any doubts before in 
regard to the intentions of his uncle, he had 
them no longer. The wretch was ready to 
“clean out” the poor family as soon as the 
time came. The only hope for the Longi mores 
was, that the cashier’s friends in Portland would 
pay the debt. If they failed to do so. Prince 
was ready to do something to avert the catas- 
trophe, though as yet he hardly knew how to 
proceed. 

Mrs. Pining was very weary after her hard 
day’s work, and she retired at a very early 
hour. Prince studied his lessons till nine o’clock, 
but he, too, was almost worn out by the loss 
of sleep the night before, and by the exertions 
of the day. Fox Bushwell did not seem to be 
at all exhausted, though he had slept less and 
worked more than any other member of that 
ill-assorted family. Two or three times he told 
his ward he had better go to bed ; and he 
seemed to be very nervous and restless all the 
evening. At last, when he had finished his 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


185 


exercises, the young man lighted his lamp, and 
went up stairs. 

The house, though more recently built, was 
the counterpart of the one which had been 
burned, and Prince’s room was over the front 
stairs, while that of his uncle was the “parlor 
chamber.” The young man retired ; but the bed 
was even harder than the one which the fire 
mercifully consumed, and the situation was 
rather strange to him. He pondered the events 
of the day, and he felt very sad indeed when 
he thought of poor Mollie Longimore. Then he 
wished again that he were of age, and in pos- 
session of his own property. That furniture 
would not be taken then, and no such thing as 
want or privation should be known to the 
cashier’s family. ' Mollie should smile again, and 
be happy as long as she hved, if money and his 
friendship could make her so. 

No doubt he built up some very pretty air 
castles, as he lay wondering why he did not go 
to sleep, when he had been so sleepy ; but what- 
ever gilded fabric his fancy conjured up, the fair 
Mollie was there to people it, and to be the 
central figure of every picture. 


186 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


Prince could not sleep, perhaps because he 
had retired an hour earlier than usual. At last 
the clock struck ten, when he thought it must 
be midnight. He turned over, and addressed 
himself again with renewed vigor to the task 
of going to sleep. But there were no poppies 
in his pillow. 

While he was thus wrestling with Somnus and 
and Morpheus, he heard, or thought he heard, 
a sound like that of a hammer striking against 
brick- work. He rose in the bed, and listened. 
The sound was repeated again and again, and it 
was certainly in the house. He got out of bed, 
and partially dressed himself. He feared that 
some villains were trying to break into the 
house. Perhaps some wretches, suspecting that 
Fox Bushwell had a large sum of money by him, 
intended to rob him. He had not heard his 
uncle, go to bed ; and, lighting his lamp, he 
entered the front chamber. The old man was 
not there ; and still the noise of the hammer, or 
whatever it was, came up from the lower part 
of the house. Leaving the lamp in his room, 
and closing the door, he carefully descended the 
stairs in his stocking feet. He soon satisfied 


THE DOECAS CLUB. 


187 


himself that the noise came from the cellar. He 
crept softly into the kitchen, after he had 
assured himself that his uncle was not there. 
Then he heard the sounds more plainly than 
before. Some one was at work on the rear 
chimney in the cellar — the one that passed up 
through the kitchen. 

As his uncle was not in the sitting-room, nor 
in the kitchen, nor in his chamber. Prince con- 
cluded that it must be he who was at work at 
this unseemly hour ; doubly unseemly to one who 
had been hard at work all day, and could hardly 
have slept any the night before. 

Probably Prince was not very different from 
other boys of his age, and not very different 
from mother Eve herself, for his curiosity was 
excited. He wanted to know what his uncle 
was doing at that time of night. He had heard 
it said that Fox Bushwell had partly learned 
the mason’s trade, when he was young, and he 
had himself even seen him lay bricks. While he 
was creeping towards the cellar door, in order 
to obtain a better view of the operations of his 
uncle, he stumbled over a stick of wood, which 
lay on the floor near the stove. The spell was 


188 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


broken and he retreated to the sink, on the 
other side of the room, just as the untimely 
workman rushed up stairs, and discovered him 
in the act of drinking from the tin dipper he 
had taken from the water-pail ; not that he was 
any more thirsty than a boy always is, for the 
act was only a piece of strategy. 

“What are you doing here. Prince ? ” demanded 
Fox Bushwell, evidently terrified by the sight 
of his ward. 

“ Getting a drink of water,” replied Prince. 
“ What are you doing in the cellar ? ” 

“ This back chimney is out of order, and I 
was fixing it. There’s a hole in the flue down 
cellar, which spoils the draft,” answered the 
money-lender. 

“It’s rather late to do such a job,” suggested 
Prince. 

“ I was too tired to do it before ; and I had 
to do it to-night, or the house will be full of 
smoke when the fire is made in the morning,” 
the old man explained. 

Prince appeared to be satisfied, though he 
could not help thinking that his uncle had not 
seemed to be very tired, only nervous and rest- 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


189 


less during the evening. He went to bed, and 
was soon asleep. When he came down the next 
morning, his guardian had gone out to get some- 
thing for breakfast, and Prince visited the cellar 
in order to see what had been done to the chim- 
ney. The rear one — larger than the other — 
was built on an arch, which was now filled with 
old lumber. He could find no place where a hole 
had been stopped, though there were a pail of 
mortar and some pieces of bricks on the fioor. 
He removed some of the lumber from the arch, 
and, within a foot of the floor, he found that 
two bricks had been recently laid, for the mor- 
tar was soft and green. 

He did not believe that a hole in that place 
could have affected the draught of the flue ; he 
was more inclined to beheve that his uncle had 
opened out a hiding place for some of his valu- 
ables. But, whatever he had done, the matter 
did not concern him; and after breakfast he 
went to school as usual. 


190 


THE DOECAS CLUB. 


CHAPTER X. 

THE UNDINE CLUB. 

F OX BUSHWELL appeared to be the last 
person who had seen Mr. Longimore, 
though a storekeeper thought he had observed a 
man who looked like him going down the main 
street about sunrise. A small steamer had been 
sent to explore all the shores of the bay in the 
vicinity of the city, to discover, if possible, the 
missing boat, in which the cashier was supposed 
to have left the wharf ; but it returned in the 
evening without having obtained any clue what- 
ever to it. On Wednesday the directors of the 
bank sent for Fox Bush well, and examined and 
cross-questioned him to their satisfaction ; but he 
still told his story just as he had related it to 
the president. The cashier had come to the 
house at daylight in the morning, and given him 
the bundle of papers he had left at the bank. 


THE DOECAS CLUB. 


191 


“ Wliat did he say when he brought them to 
you ? ” asked Mr. Doane ; and he had put the 
same question to him half a dozen times before. 

“ He said I might want the papers,” replied 
Fox Bushwell. “ He looked and acted wild. 
That’s all I know about it, as I have said be- 
fore.” 

“ But didn’t you ask him any questions ? ” 

“Noy sir, I did not. I hadn’t any time to 
say anything before he was gone.” 

“ Didn’t you think it was very strange that 
he should come to you so early in the morn- 
ing ? ’ ’ inquired one of the directors. 

“Yes, I did; I thought it was very strange. 
And he looked and acted so wild that I was 
going to ask him what the matter was ; but he 
went off before I could do so.” 

“ What did you think was the matter with 
him, Mr. Bushwell ? ” 

“ 1 hadn’t time to think much about it, he 
was off so quick. I knew he was in trouble, 
for 1 lent him the money the night before to 
make his account good with the bank. He was 
worried, and I didn’t think so much about his 
conduct in the morning as I should if I hadn’t 
seen him the night before.” 


192 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


“ Could you think of any reason why he 
brought you those papers at that early hour ? ” 
asked Mr. Doane. 

“ I couldn’t then, but I can now,” replied 
the money-lender, warily. 

“Well, what reason do you assign for it?” 

“He knew he was going off, if I did not, 
either to clear out or to make way with him- 
self; and I suppose, after the fire, he thought I 
might want the papers, for my insurance policy 
was among them,” replied Fox Bushwell ; and, 
though he had begun with a more manly tone 
than he generally used, he had now come down 
to the peculiar whine which seemed to be a part 
of his miserly nature. 

“ Didn’t he know you could get the papers 
yourself when you wanted them ? ” inquired a 
director. 

“ He helped me about some of my business, 
and I left the bundle of papers in his charge. 
He made up the package just as he did the 
papers belonging to - the bank. Perhaps he 
thought the directors would not let me have the 
papers ; or, as they were left in his care, that 
he ought to return them to me, before he went 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


193 


off. I don’t know what he thought ; I can only 
guess at it; and you can guess for yourselves as 
well as I can.” 

“Which way did Mr. Longimore go, when 
he left your house ? ” 

“ He went up the street towards the hank.” 

“Were you awake when he came?” 

“No; I was asleep in the front room — but 
not very sound asleep. His step woke me ; and 
when I heard him knock, I went to the door. 
I thought it likely it might be my boy Prince. 
As soon as I opened the door, he handed me 
the papers, and said I might want them. Then 
he turned round, and hurried down the stairs. 
I was going to ask him what the matter was ; 
but he didn’t give me time. I have told you 
all this about a dozen times; but I’ll keep on 
telling it all day, if you say so.” 

Perhaps there was something in the manner 
of the money-lender which excited the suspicions 
of die president of the bank ; if there was, he 
found nothing to verify them. Fox Bushwell’s 
story was very simple, and he did not vary it in 
the slightest particular. He was one of those 
prudent witnessess who believe it is better to 
13 


194 


THE DOECAS CLUB. 


know too little rather than too much. Mr. 
Doane and his associates inquired into the busi- 
ness transaction of the preceding evening, and the 
money-lender told the whole truth without 
reserve. He exhibited the note and the bill of 
sale, and everything appeared to be regular. 
The bank officials were unable to obtain a single 
fact which threw any additional light upon the 
singular conduct of the cashier. He was gone, 
and the bonds were gone. He was “ rather wild” 
when last seen, which tended to strengthen the 
belief that he had drowned himself in the bay. 

“ I am pretty well satisfied that he has made 
way with himself,” said Captain Hapgood. 

“ Where are the bonds, then ? ” 

“ I can’t tell. He may have used them up in 
some stock speculation.” 

“ But there would be something among his 
papers to indicate it, if he had — some letter or 
memorandum.” 

“If he was shrewd enough to square his 
accounts with the bank, he was smart enough 
to burn his letters and other papers. It is very 
strange, I know; but I can think of no other 
explanation of his conduct,” added the cap- 
tain. 


THE DOECAS CLUB. 


195 


“ If he had drowned himself, the boat would 
have been found before this time,” suggested a 
director. 

“ I have a theory in regard to that, which 
came to my mind last night while I was think- 
ing of the affair,” continued Captain Hapgood. 
“ Mr. Longimore, according to all accounts, was 
full of trouble, and rather wild. Crazy people 
are always cunning. My theory is, that he 
pulled over to one of the rocky shores, filled his 
boat with stones enough to sink her when the 
water was let in, and then went out into deep 
water again. I fancy that he tied himself down 
to the boat, or crawled under the thwarts, and 
then pulled the plug out of the bottom of the 
boat. If he did this, of course neither the boat 
nor his body will come up to tell what has 
become of him.” 

“ All that is only a supposition,” said Mr. 
Doane, with a smile at the ingenuity of the 
explanation. 

“ It is only what might have been, I know. 
If he has run away, the boat would certainly 
have been found,” persisted Captain Hapgood. 

Though this theory did not satisfy any person, 


196 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


no more plausible one could be suggested. Fox 
Bush well left the bank with a feeling that he 
had conducted himself prudently, and that he 
had succeeded in all he had undertaken. Day 
after day passed away, and no intelligence of 
the absent cashier came. The police in all the 
large cities were on the lookout for him, and 
officers employed by the bank were searching tho 
surrounding country. Mrs. Longimore gladly 
accepted the theory that her husband’s troubles 
had made him insane, and that he had drowned 
himself in the bay ; for it was better to believe this 
than to think that, in his right mind, he had stolen 
the property of the bank. She and her daughter 
mourned him as dead, and theirs was a sad, sad 
home. Two or three times a day Prince Willin- 
good called upon them, and they allowed him, at 
his own urgent request, to do the work about the 
house which the absent father had done. They 
spoke to him freely of the darkened future, which 
had hardly a ray of hope for them. 

On the third day after the disappearance of 
the cashier, came a letter from his brother to 
Mrs. Longimore. He had heard, of course, of 
the “ irregularity ” of her husband, and he had 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


197 


iBceived the letter addressed to him, imploring 
aid to save the cashier from disgrace and ruin. 
He could do nothing ; he had just failed in busi- 
ness, and enclosed in his letter a slip cut from 
a daily paper, containing the legal proceedings 
in his case. This hope was cut off. The mother and 
her daughter wept afresh at this bad news. The 
brother expressed his sympathy, and this was all 
he could do. Prince read the letter, and listened 
to the sobs of Mrs. Longimore and Mollie as he 
did so. He tried to comfort them, but he was 
powerless to do so. 

“You shall not want for anything, Mrs. Lon- 
gimore,” said Prince, confidently. “ I know 
what the girls have done ; and before the money 
they loaned you is gone, some way will be pro- 
vided for you to live. Mollie shall give lessons 
on the piano, and — ” 

“ But the piano is no longer ours.” 

“ My uncle shall not take it,” protested Prince, 
warmly. “ I can obtain the pupils, I know. 
Do not weep; all shall be well in time. You 
can take boarders, open a store, or keep a 
school,” suggested the young man. 

“ We might take boarders,” replied Mrs. Lon- 
gimore, thoughtfully, and with a gleam of hope, 


198 


THE DOECAS CLUB. 


“ But you need not do anything yet a while. 
Do not be worried. I wish I was twenty-one ! ” 
added Prince, with an enthusiasm which had its 
effect on the mother and daughter. 

He went home ; but his presence and his 
words had kindled a hope. He left the skies 
less black behind him, though he was puzzled 
to know what he could do, with all his worldly 
goods locked up in the hands of his miserly 
uncle. 

After school on Wednesday, a special meeting 
of the Dorcas Society had been called, and Don 
John, the boat builder, had been invited to be 
present. The enthusiasm for boating was at the 
highest pitch. The experience of the Lily Club 
had been so delightful that the other clubs could 
hardly wait till their days came. The meeting 
was called to order at three o’clock, for the 
Undine Club were to have the boat at four. 

“ The princely generosity of Don John has 
left us sufficient funds to procure another boat,” 
said Nellie Patterdale, when the society was 
called to order. 

“We. need another,” added Eva Doane. 

“ Wouldn’t it be nice if we could have five 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


199 


boats, so that we could all go every day ! ” 
exclaimed Kate Bilder. 

“ Perhaps we may have them by and by,” 
replied Nellie ; “ but I think a couple will do 
very well for the present — at least till we have 
all learned to row.” 

“I move that we buy another boat at once,” 
said Jennie Waite. 

“Second the motion,” added Kate Bilder. 

“ I offer an amendment, that Don John be 
employed to build one like the Dorcas,” inter- 
posed Nellie. 

“I accept the amendment,” added Jennie. 
“But how long will it take, to build one ? ” 

“ Don John can answer that question,” said 
Minnie, turning to the boat-builder. 

“ I might do it in three weeks, if I employ 
help enough ; perhaps in two,” answered Don- 
ald. 

“We can’t wait so long,” protested Kate. 

“ There is a four-oar boat for sale in the city, 
the one I used as a model for the Dorcas," 
added Don John. “She was built last year, 
and the price is two hundred dollars.” 

“Let’s buy her!” cried Jennie. 


200 


THE DOECAS CLUB. 


“ I think we can wait two or three weeks,” 
said Nellie. 

“ I’m sure we can’t.” 

“Yes, Jennie Waite,” laughed Minnie. 

“It would he such fun to have two boats!” 
exclaimed Kate. “We could get up a race. 
Let us buy her at once.” 

“ I hope we shall not do so,” continued Nel- 
lie. “ After such a magnificent present, I think 
we can wait two or three weeks for Don John 
to build the boat.” 

“ O, yes, certainly we can. I didn’t think,” 
added Jennie, blushing. 

All of them saw that it would be very swin- 
ish to purchase a boat, instead of giving an 
order to Don John to build one, after his gen- 
erous gift of the Dorcas ; and not another word 
was said about buying the one that was for 
sale. 

“ Question!” shouted the members. 

“ The motion is to employ Don John to build 
another boat,” said the president. 

“ I beg permission to say a word,” interposed 
Donald. “If the members prefer to purchase 
the boat, I hope they will do so, and not wait 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


201 


two or three weeks in order to give me the job. 
It will not make any difference to me whether 
I build her or not. I expect to lay the keel of 
a large schooner-yacht in the course of two or 
three weeks; and I shall have enough to do.” 

“ Question ! ” repeated the girls. 

The motion was carried unanimously. 

“ Don John, you will build the new boat at 
once,” said the president. 

“ Of course I will do so. Miss President, if 
such is your order, for I would swallow my 
own head rather than disobey you,” replied 
the representative of the firm of Ramsey & 
Son. 

“ Such is our order.” 

“ Then I obey ; but I shall be compelled to 
resign my pleasant position as instructor in row- 
ing to the Dorcas Club. 

“ Resign ? ” 

“ I must employ one or two men to help me 
build the boat; and I must work upon it my- 
self, instead of sunning in the smiles of these 
water nymphs.” 

“Very pretty!” 

“ This is a business matter ; and if I do not 


202 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


attend to it, the boat may not be ready as soon 
as I wish, and certainly not as soon as you 
wish,” added Don John. “Please to accept my 
resignation, and I will try to have the boat in 
the water in ten days, if I have to work nights 
upon her.” 

“ But whom shall we get to teach us ? ” asked 
Nellie. 

“There are plenty of rowists who understand 
the business better than I do.” 

“Who?” 

“ Prince Willingood, for one.” 

“Prince!” “Prince!” shouted several of the 
girls. 

“ I move that the resignation of Don John 
be accepted,” said Eva ; and the motion pre- 
vailed. 

Prince was then elected to this highly impor- 
tant position, and Don John was requested to 
inform him of the will of the club. The busi- 
ness of the meeting was completed, and the 
Undine Club, who were entitled to the use of 
the boat on that day, hastened to the shop of 
the builder, where she was kept. Don John, 
who was to instruct them on this occasion, pro- 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


203 


ceedecl as he had done the day before, until the 
girls were able to pull a stroke together. The 
Dorcas darted off, for it required very little 
power to move her. Though the members of 
the club flattered themselves that they could row 
as soon as the boat began to move, their stroke 
was very awkward and uneven, and the fair 
rowists were likely to exhaust their strength in 
pulling a single mile. Already they puffed like 
so many seals. 

“ Ready to lie on your oars ! ” said Susie 
Thaxter, the leader, as instructed by Don John. 
“Oars!” 

At the last command, the girls leveled their 
oars at the proper distance above the water. 

“What is the matter?” asked one of the 
rowers. 

“ Nothing,” replied the instructor. 

“What have we stopped for?” 

“It is about time for you to begin to learn 
how to row,” laughed Don John. 

“I thought we were rowing.” 

“ I didn’t think so. You were sort of pad- 
dling and beating the water with the oars ; but 
the water can stand it a good deal better than 


204 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


you can. You are all puffing like porpoises.” 

“ But we went real fast.” 

“ Too fast for beginners ; you will wear your- 
selves out in half an hour, and at this rate the 
exercise will do you more harm than good,” said 
the boat-builder, gravely. “ I want you to under- 
stand that I am duly and properly impressed 
with the responsibility of my position as pro- 
fessor of the art of rowing.” 

“Professor Ramsay!” laughed Susie. 

“ Thank you ; I accept the title as proper and 
fitting, and regret that I am so soon to vacate 
the chair,” added Don John. “ While I retain 
it, I desire faithfully to discharge its duties. 
Ladies should do everything gracefully ; therefore 
you should row gracefully. But allow me to add 
that you row like so many sand- crabs, sidling 
about in search of their breakfast.” 

“ By all means, let us row gracefully,” said 
Kitty Jones. 

“ Moreover, it becomes my duty to insist 
that you shall row easily,” continued Professor 
Ramsay. “You make harder work of it than 
a hod-carrier, who has to shin up a ladder with 
fifty bricks on his shoulder, and possibly one in 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


205 


his }iaifc. So much hard work will tire you out, 
and impair your health. Pardon me for this 
long speech ; but consider the heavy responsi- 
bility resting upon me.” 

“We are all willing to learn, Don John, if 
you will only tell us what to do,” added Susie. 

“In the first place, then, you must sit up 
straight, and throw your shoulders back, just as 
you do in the calisthenic exercises. In the 
second place, you must inflate the lungs when 
you gather up for the stroke. In position, if 
you please.” 

The girls straightened up, and threw their 
shoulders back. They made the movements, 
with the breathing exercise, a few times till 
they got the idea, without dipping the oars. 

“ That will do very well. All of you dip the 
blades too deep in the water, which very much 
increases the labor. Now, oblige me, at the 
word, by pulling a few strokes, only half cover- 
ing the blade.” 

“Ready — give way together!” said the 
leader, at the instructor’s request. 

“ Dip lightly. Too deep. Only half cover 
the blade of the oar — just bury the spoon, and 


206 


THE DORQAS CLUB. 


no more. Very well indeed. But you lift tlie 
oars too high above the water when you gather 
up; that is, at movement No. 1. Just clear the 
water, and no more. Slowly ; don’t hurry. No, 
no! that’s too fast. — Stop them, Susie.” 

“ Ready to lie on your oars ! Oars ! ” called 
the leader ; and they all ceased as one, and 
came into the proper position. 

“You must do it very slowly. I will call the 
movements by number — one, two, three, four ; 
one, two, three, four. No faster than that. Now, 
try again. — Give the word, Susie.” 

After considerable practice, Don John taught 
them to row very slowly and steadily. Taking 
out a long led pencil, he beat the time, like 
the conductor of an orchestra. The rowists 
were so interested in the exercise, that they 
made remarkable proficiency. 

“Now I wish to make it still easier.” Pro- 
fessor Ramsay proceeded, when the club ceased 
rowing again. 

“ I don’t see how it can be any easier,” said 
Kitty. 

“ O I wish you to be able to pull a couple of 
miles without being at all fatigued ; and you 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


207 


can, when yon get used to it. Now I will give 
the time in six heats, instead of four. Three will 
come on the stroke, as before ; but on the fifth 
and sixth beats you will lie on your oars. This 
is the man-of-war stroke. Are you all ready?” 

“ Ready.” 

‘ ‘ One — two — three — four — five — six. N o ; 
you are all in a snarl!” laughed Don Jonn. 
“ Rest on five and six. Now try again. One — 
two — three — four — five — six. That’s better. ’ ’ 

The exercise was repeated until the rowists 
were accustomed to the movement, and they 
made the rest after the stroke without breaking 
the time. Of course the length of the stroke, 
and the dip, were often corrected ; but even the 
professor was astonished at their progress. 

“I hope you are satisfied,” said Kitty. 

“Not quite. You must now learn to feather 
the oar, and never pull a stroke without doing 
so,” replied Don John. “ On four, as you lift 
the blade of the oar out of the water, turn it, 
so that it shall rest flatwise, near the surface of 
the brine.” 

The instructor took an oar, -and showed how 
it was done. Then each girl practiced till she 


208 


THE DORCAS CLHB. 


could do it. In half an hour the Undine Club 
returned to the shore, and astonished the other 
clubs by the ease and grace with which they 
pulled. As instructed, the bow oarswoman 
shipped her oar, and stood by the boat-hook, 
as the Dorcas approached the landing-place. 
Everybody was satisfied, and Don John not the 
least so. 


THE DOKCAS CLUB. 


209 


CHAPTER XI. 

THE NEW PBOFESSOB OF BOWING. 

T O the members of the Dorcas Society, the 
most favored place of resort, after dinner, 
was the boat-shop of Ramsay & Son, where Don 
John and Kennedy, his workman, were getting 
ont the frame of the Lily, as the new boat was 
to be called. When they arrived, a new sur- 
prise awaited them ; for, by the side of the Dor- 
cas lay the very counterpart of her, with the 
name “ Undine ” painted upon the stern, and 
each side of the stem. 

“ Whose boat is that, Don John ? ” asked 
Susie Thaxter, the leader of the Undine Club. 
“ Somebody has stolen our name, and I don’t 
think it’s fair.” 

“It is wicked to steal,” ^replied Don John, 
his eyes twinkling with mischief. 

“ Somebody took that name just because we 

14 


210 


THE DOECAS CLUB. 


did,” pouted Susie. “If it was any of the boys,. 
I never will speak to them again ! ” 

“It was very naughty,” added Don John. 
“The boat was sent here early this morning, 
and I was directed to have the name ‘ Undine ’ 
painted upon her in three places, as on the Dor- 
cas. You know that I can only obey orders, 
even if I break owners. If I had been ordered 
to paint ‘ Susie Thaxter ’ — ” 

“Paint Susie Thaxter! Paint mel " laughed 
the merry girl. 

“ I was going to say something more. I kno\V 
you don’t paint ; your cheeks are ag red as a 
ripe peach. If I had been ordered to paint 
‘ Susie Thaxter ’ on that boat, I should have had 
it done.” 

“ Of course you would. That would have 
been more sensible than stealing the name of 
our club ; for I hope we shall have a boat som^ 
time.’' 

“ I hope you will ; and as I can build two 
boats at the same time about as quick as I can 
one, I shall get out a pair of them. I shall 
have two men at work for me to-morrow.” 

“But who owns that boat ? ” asked Kitty 
Jones. 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


211 


“ I am sure I don’t know who owns her now. 
It is the one I spoke to you about, yesterday, 
as being for sale. She was sent here this morn- 
ing, with a note from General Jones — ” 

“My father!” exclaimed Kitty. 

“ From your father. I was ordered to paint 
the name ‘ Undine ’ upon her, and send the bill 
to him,” replied Don John. “ This afternoon a 
letter was left in my care for the president of 
the Dorcas Club, which I was requested to 
deliver when the girls came down to row. Here 
it is.” 

“ Minnie Darling hasn’t come yet, but she will 
be here soon. The Undine is a very pretty 
boat,” added Kitty. 

“I built the Dorcas after her model, as I told 
you; and the two are as nearly alike as two 
peas. The Lily will be precisely like them,” said 
Don John. 

“ What are you going to do with the other 
one you are building?” asked Susie. 

“ That’s an open question. I have not decided 
yet ; but from the interest -taken in boating, I 
am sure there will be a market for her, and 
perhaps for half a dozen more,” 


£12 


THE DOECAS CLUB. 


“Here are Minnie and Nellie,’’ said Kitty, 
anxious to know the contents of the letter. 

The boat-builder delivered the missive to the 
president, who opened and read it. As she did 
so, a smile lighted up her face, and her com- 
panions were sure that it contained pleasant 
intelligence. 

“ What is it, Minnie ? ” demanded Susie, impa- 
tiently. 

“ Listen, and I will read it,” replied Minnie : 
“ ‘ Mr. Edward C. Jones presents his compil- 
ments to the Dorcas Boat Club, and requests 
the association to accept, as his gift, the four- 
oar boat to which he has given the name of 
Undine, with his best wishes for the health 
and happiness of the members, and with the 
hope that the boat will contribute something to 
the enjoyment of the coming season.’ ” 

“ Goody ! goody ! ” shouted several of the girls, 
in their enthusiasm. 

“You tell your father he is just the nicest 
man on record, Kitty,” said Susie. “ How did 
he happen to do this magnificent thing?” 

“ I’m sure I don’t know. After tea last even- 
ing, I was telling mother and the rest of the 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


213 


folks what an elegant time we had had, and 
what splendid rowists we had become, and how 
nicely Don John instructed us, so that it was 
easier to row than it was to sit still, and how 
hungry I was when I got home, and how we 
were to row gracefully as well as easily, and 
what fun we should have all summer, and that 
Don John was going to build another boat, and 
how I wished we had boats enough for all the 
girls — ” 

‘‘ And by that time I suppose your father 
was half crazy, because you talked so fast,” 
laughed Nellie Patterdale. 

“ No, he wasn’t. He was reading his news- 
paper, and he didn’t seem to mind what I was 
saying. I told the folks that some of the girls 
wanted to buy the boat that was for sale, and 
if I had money enough, I’d buy her myself. 
Father didn’t take a bit of notice of what I 
said.” 

‘‘ It seems that he did.” 

“Well he didn’t ask me even a single ques- 
tion,” added Kitty. 

“ Evidently there was no need of any ques- 
tions,” said Minnie ; “ for you told all you knew 
and all you felt without being asked.” 


214 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


“ I don’t care ! I never enjoyed myself half 
so much before, as I did in the boat yesterday 
afternoon. Mother was afraid I should hurt 
myself rowing, and said it was too hard work 
for girls. Then I told her everything Don John 
had said about making easy work of it, and 
that I wasn’t a bit tired after we learned to 
row. Then to think that father heard all I said, 
and went off this morning and bought this boat, 
and gave it to the Dorcas Club ! Now each of 
the clubs can go twice a week, instead of once, 
and next week will be vacation.” 

“You can use her this afternoon, if you like, 
only you must be careful not to rub the letters 
that are painted on her,” suggested Don John. 

“ That will be nice ! ” exclaimed Kitty. “ The 
Psyche Club can have her.” 

“ But we have not learned to row,” said 
Carrie West, the leader of the club mentioned. 
“We must be instructed before we can go out, 
and the professor is to go with the Dorcas Club, 
who have the boat to-day.” 

“Where is Prince?” asked Minnie. 

“He will be here very soon,” replied Don 
John. “ It isn’t four o’clock yet.” 


THE DOKCAS CLUB. 215 

“ Can’t you go with the Psyche Club, Pro- 
fessor Ramsay?” asked Kitty. 

“ I cannot ; if I do., Kennedy must stop work 
as well as I, and we can’t get these boats done 
at the time stated. Please don’t call me pro- 
fessor any more ; I abdicate in favor of Prince 
Willingood, who has been chosen as my successor. 
Transfer the title to him ; he is worthy to bear 
the laurel and bear the honor,” laughed Don 
John. “Besides there will be so many profes- 
sors around, that we shall not know one from 
another. The barber is a professor, and so are 
the horse-doctor, the bumpologist, and the light- 
ning-rod man.” 

“Here is the Simon Pure professor,” said 
Susie Thaxter, as Prince made his appearance. 

“The what?” demanded the new instructor 
in rowing. 

“The professor. Prince ; you are the professor 
of the art of rowing.” 

“ Am I, indeed ? ” chuckled Prince. “ I’m a 
greater man than I thought I was ; and I beg 
to express my warmest thanks for the distin- 
guished honor conferred upon me. I will 
endeavor to discharge my arduous duties with 


216 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


fidelity and discretion, and thus to win the 
favor of those who have placed me in this hon- 
orable and useful position. Allow me to add 
that Don John has fully instructed me in 
regard to his system of rowing, and I shall 
follow his method.” 

Both of the boats were put into the water, 
and hauled up alongside the little pier which 
Don John and his man had built in front of 
the shop. 

“ But which club is going in the Undine ? ” 
said Minnie, as she seated herself at the stroke 
oar. 

“The Psyche, of course,” replied Kitty. “It 
is their next turn.” 

“ But we can’t row,” added Carrie West. 

“ And for that reason, I hope the Psyche Club 
will not go out in the Undine, for they will 
only contract bad habits,” said Prince. 

“ Miss President, I move, as the sense of the 
club, that the Undine Club, knowing how to 
row, ought to use the second boat,” continued 
Nellie, at the bow oar of the Dorcas. 

“Just my opinion, exactly,” cried Prince. 
“ Then the Dorcas Club can see just how to 


THE DOBCAS CLUB. 


217 


row, and their example will make our work all 
the easier.” 

Minnie put the question to vote, and the 
motion was carried. 

“I think it is real mean, there!” said Kittie, 
impulsively. “ Neither the Psyche nor the Fairy 
Club have been in the boat yet. I would rather 
have them go than go myself.” 

“ But we can’t row,” persisted Carrie West. 
“I’m afraid we should tip over, or spoil the 
boat.” 

“ I don’t want to go till Prince can go with 
us,” added Jennie Waite, the leader of the Fairy 
Club. 

So said all the members of the two clubs 
which had not yet been in the boat. 

“ We had much rather see your club row, 
Kitty,” continued Carrie West. “ I enjoyed 
looking at you, yesterday afternoon, quite as 
much as I should rowing myself. Your move- 
ments were the very poetry of motion.” 

“ That’s so ! ” cried Prince. “ I must have 
the Undine Club as a model for the Dorcas.” 

Kitty, over-persuaded, gave up the point. As 
her father had presented the boat to the club, 


218 


THE DOECAS CLUB. 


she wanted the members to feel that she belonged 
to all, and not to her particular club. The mem- 
bers of the Undine Club took their places, Susie 
Thaxter being in the stern-sheets with the tiller- 
ropes in her hands. 

“Ready! Up oars!” said she. “Shove off!” 

The last order was properly addressed to the 
bow and stroke oarswomen, whose duty it was 
to shove the boat out from the pier ; and, hav- 
ing done so, to elevate their oars, in readiness 
to “let fall” with the others; but Don John 
did this part of the work for them, and pushed 
the Undine far out from the shore. 

“ Let fall ! ” said the leader ; and all the oars 
dropped into the water as one, with the blades 
athwartships. “Give way together!” 

The Undines began to pull with a very slow 
and measured stroke, making the long pause 
when the oars were raised out of, the water. 
But slow as the stroke was, the boat went ahead 
quite rapidly, for she was very sharp and very 
light. A stout boy, without much expenditure 
of force, could have rowed her even faster than 
she was going, and this slight amount of muscle, 
divided among four girls, made it very easy 


THE DOECAS CLUB. 


219 


indeed for them. Don John had positively for- 
bidden them to row any faster than the , time 
he had given them, and Prince had repeated 
the order as they started. 

The fact was, that Dr. Darling, Minnie’s 
father, who was a wealthy retired physician, had 
been to see Don John as soon as he learned 
the latter had been chosen as instructor. He 
had given the young professor some excellent 
advice in regard to physical exercise for girls, 
and had especially cautioned him not to allow 
them to make hard work of it. The points of 
this lesson had been duly handed over to 
Prince. 

The girls on the shore clapped their hands 
when the Undine went off, so pretty and grace- 
ful were the movements of the rowers; and the 
Dorcas Club watched them for • some time. It 
soon appeared that there were other spectators, 
for quite a number of thfe friends of the girls 
were coming down to the shore. Among them 
was Dr. Darling, who commended Don John’s 
system of rowing in the highest terms. But the 
Dorcas Club were not anxious to make their first 
attempts in the presence of an audience, and 


220 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


Prince paddled the boat away from the shore, 
and behind a wharf, before he commenced his 
lesson. As his predecessor had done, he ex- 
plained very fully what he wished to accom- 
plish, and then taught the club the movements. 
The girls were apt scholars, and in an hour they 
pulled a very pretty stroke, precisely hke that 
which Don John had given to the Undines. 

“ You are doing bravely,” said Prince. “You 
can row almost as well as Kitty’s club now.” 

“ Then I think we may go in and show our- 
selves,” laughed Minnie. “ My father is on the 
wharf, and I suppose he wants to know whether 
we are killing ourselves or not.” 

“Very well; we will go as closely to the 
shore as we can by Don John’s wharf,” replied 
Prince. “Don’t dip too deep, if you please.” 

“But we don’t more than half cover the 
blades,” said- Nellie, who knew something about 
rowing herself. 

“ I don’t wish you to dip any deeper at pres- 
ent. I know the rule is to cover the blade, and 
we shall do so by and by. We must begin very 
gradually, for none of you are used to hard 
work. As you are strengthened by exercise, we 
will dip deeper.” 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 221 

“ Here comes the Undine,” added Minnie. 
‘‘ How prettily they row ! ” 

“You are doing about as well as the Undines ; 
only keep cool, and don’t hurry. One — two — 
three — four — five — six. Not faster than that,” 
continued Prince. 

The two boats came alongside of each other, 
both pulling the slow and measured stroke, 
which made their speed exactly the same. The 
instructor acted as leader, in the absence of 
Mollie Longimore, and gave the order to “lie 
on your oars.” At his request Susie did the 
same. 

“Are you tired, girls?” asked Prince. 

“Not one bit ! ” protested Kitty, in the Un- 
dine. 

“We don’t have to use any strength at all,” 
said another. 

“Can’t we have a race?” asked Susie Thax- 
ter. 

“ No ; not on any account,” replied Prince, 
decidedly. “By and by, when you have practised 
a great deal, and your muscles are a little 
hardened, we will do a little mild racing.” 

“ There won’t be any fun, if we can’t race,” 
pouted Kitty. 


222 


THE DOECAS CLUB. 


“ I think there will be plenty of fun ; but we 
shall have a race when you are in condition for 
it. You might do yourself more harm.in,^one 
hour than you could recover from in a year, 
if you exercise too violently. For the present, 
you must pull no faster than the time I have 
given you. Now we will show off what you 
can do to the people on shore.” 

The rowers gave way again, and the Undine 
was instructed to follow the I>orcas. Prince led 
the way to a considerable distance below the 
boat -builder’s pier, and then took a course back, 
which led the boats as near the shore as the 
depth of the water would permit. The gwls, 
feeling now that they were on exhibition, threw 
back their shoulders, and did their best. The 
instructor counted the time loud enough for both 
crews to hear him, till the rowers in both boats 
were pulling precisely the same stroke. Their 
speed did not vary a particle, and the eight oars 
all dipped at precisely the same instant. As 
they passed close to the shore, and the pier 
where the other members of the club and the 
spectators were assembled, they were greeted 
with hearty applause. 





Those on Shore watched the Movements of the Rowers. Page 218. 


















THE DORCAS CLUB. 


223 


“Ready to toss — toss!” said Prince, when 
the boats were abreast of the pier. 

The eight oars were elevated to a perpen- 
dicular, as though they had all been parts of 
the same machine, the boats still shooting 
ahead under the impetus given them before. 
This was the complimentary salute with which 
a boat acknowleges a civility. 

“Let fall! Give wa}^ ” continued Prince; 
and the rowing was resumed without a break 
in the time, calling from the spectators a 
renewed expression of approbation. 

The boats circled around, and again passed 
the spectators, tossing the oars as before, in 
reply to the applause which greeted them. 
Prince then stopped the Dorcas, and directed the 
Undine to take a position abreast, and on the 
starboard side of her. Side by side, they passed 
the spectators, a third time, the ends of the oars 
almost touching, so careful was the steering. 
Again the fair rowers tossed their oars, in reply 
to the demonstrations on shore. 

“ Are you tired yet ? ” asked Prince, when 
they had been out an hour and a half. 

No one was tired even in the slightest degree, 


224 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


but the instructor deemed it prudent to return 
to the shore, where the two clubs were greeted 
with the warmest expressions of delight and 
admiration. Dr. Darling expressed the pleasure 
he felt in seeing the business conducted so well, 
and declared that the girls would be vastly 
benefited by the exercise thus prudently managed. 
The fresh air was good for them, and there was 
no danger at present of over-exertion. 

"‘But such gentle rowing will soon become 
very tame to them,” added the doctor. 

“ I suppose so, sir. But when they have more 
boats, they can perform all sorts of manoeuvers, 
which will give them plenty of variety,” replied 
Prince. 

“You have two boats now, and one build- 
ing? ” 

“Yes sir. Don John is building one besides, 
on his own account. I suppose the girls will 
not be satisfied till they have a boat for each 
of the five clubs.” 

“I wish they had them, for I think they need 
this exercise in the open air. Don’t let them 
overdo it, on any account.” 

“I will not — if I can help it; but I suppose 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


225 


my services will not be much longer required,” 
added Prince, as he walked into the shop with 
the doctor. 

“You are building a boat on your own account, 
Don John, I am told,” said Dr. Darling. 

“Yes, sir. I think there will be a demand 
for row-boats this season,” rephed the builder. 

It certainly looks like it now,” laughed the 
doctor. “Do you intend to sell her?” 

“Yes, sir — of course.” 

“ I will take her, at the price named for the 
other, for the Dorcas Club. Let me see. Prince. 
What are the names of the clubs that have no 
boats ? ” 

“ The Fairy and the Psyche.” 

“ Call this one the Psyche.” 

“ Very well, sir.” 

Prince reported what Dr. Darling had done 
to the members of the club ; and certainly the 
prospect was as bright as they could wish. 
The next afternoon the Psyche Club received 
its first lesson, the Lily Club using the Undine 
at the same time. On Saturday the Fairy Club 
took its turn ; and when the week ended, all 
the clubs were able to pull a boat, though all 
of them still had a great deal to learn. 


226 


THE DORCAS CLfB' 


By this time Don John had the frames of the 
two boats set up, and all hands worked early 
and late upon them. Prince was quite as en- 
thusiastic as any of the girls, and only regretted 
that Mollie Longimore could not take part in 
the sports ; and his regret was shared by Minnie 
and Nellie. He continued to do all he could 
for the afflicted family, and called upon them 
three times a day. After the rowing was fin- 
ished on Saturday, he found Minnie and Nellie 
at the cashier’s house. Mollie and her mother 
had become in some degree reconciled to the 
altered circumstances ; and, though they had not 
ceased to mourn him whom they believed to be 
no more, they were calm and composed. 

“ I am sorry you gave that white envelope to 
your father, Mollie,” said Minnie, who had been 
waiting for a fit time to open this subject, and 
to return the money it had contained. 

“ I did not give it to him,” replied Mollie. 
You did not ? ” 

I told you I could not ; and I did not. I 
so glad now that I did not ! ” 

“ But you gave it back to me sealed,” added 
rflinnie, greatly astonished. 

“ I didn’t mind whether it was sealed or not. 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


227 


But my father did not see it, or know anything 
about it.” 

“But every envelope contained money — every 
one of them.” 

“ Mine had no money in it, I am sure,” per- 
sisted Mollie. “ I didn’t like to carry the envel- 
ope and circular into the house, for fear some 
one might see them. I gave it for Prince to 
keep for me — didn’t I, Prince ? ” 

“You did,” replied he, rather puzzled to deter- 
mine how he should get out of the scrape. 

“Did you seal it?” asked Minnie. 

“ Why should he seal it when there was 
nothing in it?” 

“ But every envelope contained money.” 

“Then Prince put the money into -mine,” said 
Mollie, blushing. 

After some attempts to evade the issue, he 
was obliged to confess that he had put a ten- 
dollar bill into the envelope before he gave it 
back to Mollie. Minnie and Nellie both insisted 
upon returning it. Mollie would not take the 
money ; and in the end Prince was forced to 
accept it; but when he put it into his pocket, 
he mentally determined that every cent of it 
should be spent for the benefit of the Longimores. 


228 


THE DOBCAS CLUB. 


CHAPTER Xn. 

THE SOLITARY OARSMAN^ 

M onday, the first day of vacation, was a 
busy day with “ Professor ” Willingood, 
for each of the clubs was to have the use of 
one of the boats for two hours. The Dorcas 
and the Lily Clubs were to have their turn in the 
forenoon ; and Prince took his place in the for- 
mer for the first hour; but Carrie West, of the 
Psyche, acted as leader in the Dorcas, in the 
absence of Mollie Longimore. 

“ I told you the other day that there were sev- 
eral things more for you to learn,” said the pro- 
fessor, when the boats w’ere under way, and 
some distance from the land. 

“I thought we had learned out,” laughed 
Minnie. “We can row, and make the boat go. 
What more is there to do?” 

“ Do you see those two yachts, anchored close 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


229 


together? ” asked Prince, pointing to the Maud 
and the Sea Foam, which were lying within ten 
feet of each other. 

“I see them.” 

“Suppose, in order to avoid being run down 
by a steamer, it suddenly became necessary for 
the Dorcas to pass between them.” 

“ It would be simply impossible to row through 
such a narrow place,” replied Minnie. “ We 
should break our oars.” 

“Not at all.” 

“We could toss oars,” suggested NeUie Pat- 
terdale. 

“And if the wind were blowing pretty fresh, 
the blades of the oars would act as so many 
small sails, and might carry the boat against one 
of the yachts, or get you afoul of her rigging. 
It might be done ; but it is not the best way. 
Before we go any farther, we will pass through 
that narrow place. When Carrie West gives 
the order, ‘Ready to trail — trail!’ at the last 
word, you will each throw the loom of the oar 
out of the rowlock, holding on at the handle. 
It must be done, of course, when the boat is 
under full headway. The motion of the boat 


230 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


will bring all the blades of the oars alongside. 
As soon as you are through the narrow place, 
the order will be given, ‘Ship your oars,’ and 
you will place the loom in the rowlock again. 
Now we will try it. Give the word, Carrie, 
‘ Ready to trail.’ ” 

“Ready to trail!” repeated the leader. 
“Trail!” 

The oars were permitted to come alongside, 
and held in this position, though some boats 
have trail-lines attached to the oars and the 
gunwale, so that the whole may be released. 

“Very well, young ladies,” said the f)rofessor, 
as they insisted upon calling him. “ Now when 
you ship your oars, you must be careful not to 
catch a crab.” 

“I know what that is,” said Eva Doane. 

“I am glad you do; but there is a difference 
of opinion in regard to it,” added Prince. 
“Some say it is catching the oar in the water, 
when gathering up for the stroke ; and others, 
that it is missing the stroke, or ‘ rowing dry,’ so 
that the rower is pitched over backwards. Now 
haul your ^oars well in, and lift the blade out 
of the water when you throw it into the row- 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


23 L 


lock. Don’t let it touch the water again till 
the order comes to ‘give way.’ Now try it, 
Carrie.” 

“ Ship your oars ! ” 

They were handled as in tossing ; and, being 
proficient in this exercise, the new movement 
came very easily. 

“Give way!” added Carrie; and the rowing 
was resumed as though there had been no break 
in it. 

The operation of trailing was repeated several 
times before Prince would permit the boat to 
pass between the two yachts, the crews of which 
were on board, getting them ready for a cruise 
down the bay. The yachtmen watched the 
movements of the Dorcas and the Undine with 
no little interest and admiration ; and when the 
former passed between their yachts, all hands 
gave three rousing cheers. 

“ Ready to toss I Toss ! ” said Carrie, prompted 
by Prince ; and all the oars went up, in response 
to the command. 

“Is there anything more to learn. Professor 
Willingood ? ” inquired Minnie. 

“Plenty more. Miss President,” answered 


232 


THE DOECAS CLUB. 


Prince. “ Suppose a steamer should shoot out 
into the path of the boat, so that, if you did 
not stop the Dorcas, in going two or three 
times her length you would smash the steamer, 
or be smashed yourself, what would you do ? 
That’s the conundrum.” 

“Stop rowing and back water, of course,” 
said Eva Doane. 

“Just so but, — 

“ ‘In colleges and halls, in ancient times, 

There dwelt a sage called Discipline.’ 

It is rather a startling thing to find yourself in 
the path of a steamboat, for steamers have an 
ugly habit of smashing small boats like pipe- 
stems ; and without discipline some might back, 
and others pull, and whirl the boat around, 
instead of getting out of the way. We will 
learn to do the thing properly, as they did it in 
eolleges and halls in ancient days. The word is, 

‘ Oars ! ’ because no long speeches should be 
made when the boat is in danger.” 

“But that is the same order as when you lie 
ypon the oars,” Minnie objected. 

“ Very true ; and that is precisely what you 
will do — lie upon your oars. The second order 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


233 


is, ‘ Hold water ; ’ when you will drop the oars 
into the brine, just as in pulling the stroke. 
You must hold the handles firmly for the resis- 
tance may be so great as to throAv you off your 
seats. Now go ahead again and we will try 

it. ” 

“Give way,” said the leader; and the girls 
pulled till the Dorcas was under full headway. 

“Now is your time, Carrie,” added Prince. 

“Oars!” shouted Carrie, sharply. 

Instantly every rower was lying on her oars, 
with the flat of the blade just above the water. 

“ Hold water I ” added the leader, an instant 
later. 

The girls turned the oars, and dropped them 
into the water. In a few moments the progress 
of the Dorcas was checked, and she lay motion- 
less. 

“Very well, indeed,” said the instructor. 
“But it is often necessary to do something 
more than merely “ hold water,’ and the order, 

‘ Stern, all ! ’ is given, at which you must all 
row backwards or back water.” 

“We can do that,” added Minnie. 

“ I know you can ; but you need practice ; 


234 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


otherwise, an order quickly given may throw 
you into confusion, at a time when you have 
not a moment to spare. Now try it, Carrie. 
Go ahead, hold water, and then back her.” 

“ Give way ! ” said the leader ; and the Dor- 
cas darted off. 

“I want you to notice how quickly you can 
check her headway,” continued Prince. 

“ Oars ! ” added the leader, at the right moment. 

“ Hold water ! Stern, all ! ” 

It was a failure, for in backing water the 
rowers lost the stroke. Ruth was hit in the 
back by the handle of Eva’s oar, and all of 
them were thrown into confusion. 

“ I thought you said you could do that,” 
laughed Prince. 

“ “ Carrie gave the orders too rapidly,” pleaded 
Minnie. 

“Not too rapidly,” said the instructor. “ If 
there is danger ahead, you can’t stop to dream 
about it ; you must act. Now, you must keep 
doing it till the movement will execute itself, 
for it is the most important one I have given 
you. You will often be required to do it in 
emergencies. When we have the four boats out, 


THE DOECAS CLUB. 


235 


you will be in constant peril of running into 
each other, if you don’t know how to handle 
yoLir boats properly.” 

Carrie started the boat again, and repeated 
the orders as before ; but the club again failed 
to hit the back stroke together. The next time, 
it was done more slowly and with better suc- 
cess. The manoeuvre was executed a dozen 
times before Prince was satisfied with it. As 
the first hour had expired, the Dorcas headed 
for the shore, in order to transfer the professor 
to the Undine, to whose crew he was to give 
the same lessons. 

“ In bow ! ” said Carrie, prompted by Prince, 
as the boat approached the landing-place. 

Nellie Patterdale, who pulled the bow oar, 
unshipped it, and repaired to the four-sheets, 
with the light boat-hook in her hand, in readi- 
ness to fend off, or fasten to the pier. 

“Way enough,” added the leader ; whereat 
the three remaining rowers tossed their oars, and 
then boated, or, in other words, deposited them 
in the boat by the gunwale, where they be- 
longed. 

The Dorcas lost her headway just as the bow 


286 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


came up to tlie pier ; but Prince had indicated 
to Carrie when to give the order. 

“We hit it just right,” said Nellie, as she 
hooked into the pier, and drew the boat along- 
side it. 

“You must be very careful indeed, when you 
make a landing, to estimate the distance cor- 
rectly,” added the professor. 

“ I know the distance now,” replied Carrie ; 
“ and I am sure I can hit it right every time.” 

“Don’t be too sure,” laughed Prince, shaking 
his head; “for it will hardly be twice the same. 
If the wind is blowing strong off shore, it will 
be less; if on shore, more. You must make the 
proper allowance every time ; but you had better 
make too great rather than too small an allow- 
ance. It is safer to fall short of the pier, than 
to run into it, and smash your boat. Here 
comes the Undine ; let us see how she does 
it.’^ 

She did it badly, for Kate Bilder made too 
little allowance for the headway of the boat, and 
if Prince had not caught the bow, she would 
have driven her stem into the pier. The pro- 
fessor took his place in the Undine, and went 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


23T 


over the same ground as in the Dorcas. Before 
noon he had finished the lesson, arid then both 
clubs practiced in making the pier. While they 
did so, Prince stood on the wharf, with a boat- 
hook in his hand, to prevent any accident ; but 
the leaders were so careful that the boats fell 
short every time. This was a mistake on the 
safe side, and the instructor was satisfied to 
leave the matter where it was. The lessons for 
the forenoon were finished, the boats secured, 
and all hands went home to dinner. At two 
o’clock the rowing <vas resumed by the Undine 
and Psyche Clubs, and the professor repeated 
his instructions till they had become rather 
monotonous to him. At four o’clock, he went 
over the old story with the Fairy Club, in the 
Undine, the Dorcas Club using the other 
boat. 

“HuUo! ” 

The shout came from a small boat, pulled by 
one man, directly ahead of the Psyche. Carrie 
West was putting her knowledge to a practical 
test, steering the boat towards the craft before 
her, intending to “ hold water,” and “ back her,” 
in season to avoid a collision. The lonely oars- 


288 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


man seemed to fear a catastrophe, and had 
thrown np a warning note ; hut the intrepid 
leader of the Psyche brought her to a dead 
stand not more than half a boat’s length from 
him. 

“ Hullo ! ” yelled the man, as the Ps3^che 
stopped; “are you go’n to run into me?” 

“ I hadn’t the least idea of doing so, sir,” 
replied Carrie. 

“ That’s rather a close shave,” added the soli- 
tary rower, shaking his head. 

“We can do it nineteen times more, without 
touching 3^0 u,” laughed the leader. 

“I’d ruther you don’t try it again. You’ll 
break the bow of that pretty boat all to flin- 
.ders, if you cut so dost,” added the stranger. 

“No danger, sir.” 

“ But it makes my nerves rather shakey. I’ve 
got as many nerves as a lady.” 

“We will not go near you again, then,” added 
Carrie. 

“ I’m ruther glad you fetched up so dost, for 
I want to see you.” 

“ See me ! ” exclaimed the leader, merrity. 

“ Well, no; not exactly the gal, but the feh 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


239 


ler with you. — Be you J. Prince Willingood ? ” 

“ That’s my name.” 

“ He’s the professor,” chuckled Carrie. 

“ I s’pose so,” added the lonely rowist, who 
did not indulge in a smile, much less a laugh, 
but looked as solemn as an owl. I want to 
see the professor. I want to talk with him.” 

“ I’m engaged just now,” replied Prince. 

“ Engaged to all them gals? ” queried the man, 
gloomily. 

“We release you from the engagement,” 
laughed Carrie. 

“ I will be at Don John’s boat-house in a 
few minutes,” added Prince. “I will see you 
there.” 

“ That’s half a mile off, and I ain’t so fond 
of rowing as them gals. I want to see you very 
bad.” 

“ How bad ? ” 

“ Bad enough to do almost anything.” 

“Who is he. Prince?” asked one of the 
girls. 

“It’s Simon Potter, I think,” replied Prince. 

“ That’s my name ; and I live in the woods 
down to Northport,” added the man, whose 


240 


DORCAS CLUB. 


hearing was excellent, though he seemed to be 
somewhat advanced in years. If you git into 
my boat, I’ll pull you up to the boat-shop while 
Ave’re talkin’.” 

“We can return without you, professor,” said 
Carrie. 

“You won’t break the wharf down when you 
land — will you ? ” 

“ I will try not to do so,” replied Carrie. 

“ Because we shall want it this season, and 
don’t wish to have it smashed.” 

“ I will be careful.” 

“Very well. I will see what this worthy 
gentleman desires. Pull, starboard; back, port 
oars.” 

The Undine swung around, so that Prince 
could step into the boat of the sohtary oarsman. 
As he seated himself in the stern, the club gave 
way again, and was soon out of hailing dis- 
tance. 

“You don’t know me much. Prince,” said 
Simon Potter. 

“ Not much.” 

The lonely rower had the reputation of being 
a strange man, and his looks were fully up to 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


241 


his reputation. He was short in stature, being 
not more than five feet four in height. His hair 
was always cut short, and what there was of 
it was of a yellowish -white ; but his beard, of 
the same color, reached nearly down to his 
waist. He always wore coarse gray pants, very 
large and bagging, and a short blue frock, 
reaching to his hips, over whatever other gar- 
ments he had on. Winter and summer, his 
fashion was always the same. His hat — when 
he wore any — was an ordinary ‘‘stove-pipe,” at 
least so far as the brim was concerned ; but he 
had cut away the crown, and rolled it up into the 
shape of a cone. Certainly it was a “ shocking 
bad hat,” and those who saw it upon his head 
immediately concluded that Simon Potter was a 
crazy man. If he walked through the streets of 
the city, every boy stopped and turned round 
to look at him as a curiosity. 

If the solitary rower was not crazy, he was 
eccentric. The tradition in regard to him was 
that he had graduated at Bowdoin College, 
studied medicine, and established himself in 
practice. He was married; but being a singular 
man, his wife could not live with him, and de- 
16 


242 


THE DOECAS CLUB. 


serted him. This misfortune seemed to disgust 
him with civilization and society. In order to 
get away from everybody, he “ camped out ” for 
a summer on the lonely Northport shore. Then 
he bought a considerable tract of land, and built 
a small house and barn upon it, where he lived 
entirely alone. He cultivated ground enough to 
afford him all the vegetables he wanted, and to 
enable him to keep a cow. If anybody called 
to see him, he was not at home, for he con- 
cealed himself in the woods, when he saw visi- 
tors approaching. Two or three times a year, 
he went to the city to purchase supplies and 
collect his interest, for he had money invested 
there. 

“ Nobody knows me much,” said Simon Pot- 
ter. “ I don’t want to know folks much. I 
keep out of the way.” 

“Why do you keep out of the way?” asked 
Prince. 

“Because it suits me best. I don’t like folks 
any better’n folks like me. We don’t agree ; 
and I’m willin’ to let them alone, if they’ll let 
me alone.” 

“ I have heard it said that you were a doc- 
tor.” 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


243 


“ I ain’t no doctor now. I used to be, but I 
ain’t now, and don’t mean to be agin. I got 
tired o’ livin’ when I Avan’t more’n thirty years 
old. I’ve been ready to die ever since ; I’m 
only waitin’ for my time to come. I don’t trou- 
ble nobody, and nobody troubles me — except 
peddlers and lightnin’-rod men.” 

“You must be very lonely.” 

“ No, I ain’t. I don’t want no company, and 
never have none. How deep do you suppose 
the water is down here? ” said the strange man, 
resting on his oars, and looking into the Avater. 

“I don’t know; fifty feet, perhaps,” replied 
Prince. 

“I s’pose you kneAV Mr. Longimore?” 

“Very well, indeed.” 

“ Do you s’pose he’s down there ? ” added 
Simon Potter, pointing impressively into the 
water. 

“I’m afraid he is.” 

“ Drowned ? ” 

“Yes.” 

“ He was a good man. He used to git my 
interest for me, and give it to me without 
laughin’ at me, as other folks do. I’m sorry 
he’s dead.” 


244 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


“ He was a fine man.” 

“Yes he was. He never bothered me with 
questions I don’t want to answer. He told me 
once that you were a good boy.” 

“ I try to be.” 

“ I want you to do some things for me. Will 
you? I’ll pay you for it.” 

“ I shall be glad to do anything I can for 
you,” answered Prince, promptly. 

“ Now Mr. Longimore’s gone, I want some- 
body to collect my interest for me, and bring 
it to me, for I don’t want to go to the city 
any more. Folks stare at me, and laugh at me. 
You can buy some things for me, when 1 want 
’em. I’ll pay you well for all you do.” 

“I will do anything of this kind you wish.” 

“ Thank ye. Prince ; ” and Simon Potter sud- 
denly relapsed into a fit of deep musing, during 
which he gazed intently into the water. 

“ When shall I colleet your interest. Dr. 
Potter?” asked the young man, when he was 
tired of the silence. 

“Don’t call me doctor. I’m no doctor now.” 

“Excuse me — Mr. Potter.” 

“Nor mister, nuther. Call me Simon Potter. 


THE DORCAfS CLUB. 


245 


Do you suppose Mr. Longimore has gone to 
heaven, Prince ? ” 

“ He was a Christian man, and J have no 
doubt of it.” 

“If he ain’t dead ? ” 

“Well, no; not if he is alive.” 

“Folks think he’s gone to heaven, — don’t 
they ? ” 

“I don’t kno’SY what they think. Probably 
those who believe he stole the bonds doii^t think 
so.” 

“How old are you. Prince?” asked Simon 
Potter, looking him earnestly in the face. 

“ Seventeen.” 

“Have you come to years of discretion 
yet?” 

“I think I have,” laughed Prince.. 

“Some boys don’t never come to years of 
discretion, added the strange man, solemnly. 

“Are you afraid to trust me with your in- 
terest money, Mr. Potter ? ” 

“ Simon Potter is my name. I shall soon be 
in the Potter’s Field.” 

The words sounded like a grim joke ; but the 
speaker did not smile. He never smiled. 

“I hope not,” added Prince. 


246 


THE DOECAS CLUB. 


“ Don’t wish me ill. I ain’t afraid to trust 
you with my interest money. It’s due the first 
day of July. The cashier used to have it ready 
for me the next day. Do you s’pose Mr. Longi- 
more is dead ? ’’ 

“ His wife and daughter think so ; and I have 
no reason to doubt it,” answered Prince. 

“His folks feel bad — don’t they?” 

“Very badly.” 

“ I’m sorry for ’em, for Mr. Longimore was 
a good man. I’m sorry they think he is dead, 
I mean.” 

“Don’t you think he was drowned?” asked 
Prince, perplexed by the odd speech of his com- 
panion. 

“ I love the cashier. He’s the only man on 
the airth I care for. He don’t laugh at me.” 

“But isn’t he drowned?” demanded Prince. 

“ The water’s fifty feet deep here, you say. 
If you tell anybody what I say. Prince, except 
them I tell you to tell, those who want to know 
more about it will find my body at the bottom 
of the bay, fifty feet down.” 

“ What do you mean, sir ? ” 

“If you say one word more’n I tell you to, 
you’ll wrong me, and you’ll wrong — ” 



Prince and the solitary Oarsman. Page 243. 





THE DORCAS CLUB. 


247 


‘‘Whom?” asked Prince, when the old man 
paused. 

“ Mr. Longimore ! ’* 

Prince was thoroughly excited now. 


248 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


CHAPTER XIII. 

MOTHER AND DAUGHTER. 

64 ■ XO you really mean that Mr. Longimore 
1 7 is alive ? ” asked Prince of his eccen- 
tric companion. 

“ I hope I hain’t made no mistake in tellin’ 
you,” replied Simon Potter, doubtfully. 

“You have not made a mistake; that is — ” 

Prince stopped there, for it suddenly occurred 
to him that he could not be a party to the con- 
cealment of one charged with robbing the bank 
of forty thousand dollars in bonds. 

“ That is ! ” repeated the strange man. “ I 
see! I ain’t no doctor, but I can read your 
thoughts. Mr. Longimore won’t be sent to 
jail; he’ll die fust. I won’t be the cause of 
sendin’ him to jail; I’ll die fust. Now, Prince, 
let me tell you jest how it'll all work. You’ll 
go up to the city, tell the president of the bank. 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


249 


or the deputy sheriff, or some one else, that Mr. 
Longimore is alive, and that Simon Potter knows 
something about him. The sheriff comes down 
to Northport to look after me. He don’t find me. 
Where am I? A cold body, fifty feet under 
water. I can’t tell nothin’ then — can I?” 

“I should say not,” replied Prince, breathless 
with interest. 

“He can’t git even a hint out of me; but 
the sheriff will start from my place to look after 
the cashier. Where is he ? A cold body, fifty 
feet under water ! He won’t do the bank officers 
no good then.” 

“But where is Mr. Longimore?” 

“ I hain’t told you.” 

“You have as good as told me he is alive,” 

“Then his life and mine is in your hands,” 
replied Simon Potter. “ He couldn’t stand it 
no longer ; and sumthin’ had to be done. He 
fixed on you to do it.” 

“ What can I do ? I’m only a boy,” pleaded 
Prince, awed by the awful responsibility imposed 
upon him. 

“ Only tell his wife and the oldest darter that 
he ain’t dead. Nothin’ more.” 


250 


THE DOKCAS CLHB. 


“But Ilow can. I know anything about him, 
and keep still, when he is charged with robbing 
the bank?” added Prince. 

“ He is as innocent as you are of stealing the 
bonds,” protested Simon Potter, so excited that 
he dropped the illiterate style of speaking, which he 
had adopted from the first, apparently to do away 
with the impression that he might be a doctor. 

“ Innocent ! ” exclaimed the young man. 

“He is innocent; but he may never be able to 
prove his innocence.” 

“Where are the bonds, then?” 

“ I cannot answer you. Will you keep the 
poor man’s secret ? Will you save him from 
death ? Answer me at once.” 

“Is it right for me to keep such a secret ? ” 

“ Settle that for yourself. I am not the keeper 
of your conscience. It is right for me to keep 
it, for I know he is innocent.” 

“ I am afraid to promise,” replied Prince, sadly 
bewildered by the difficulty of the situation. 

“ I respect your scruples, Prinee ; but Mr. 
Longimore’s life is in your hands. His hope is 
in you. For more reasons than I am permitted 
to name now, he has chosen you to help him. 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


251 


If you disappoint him, he has nothing to hope 
for in this world.” 

“ But I cannot promise to conceal a crime. 
I have no right to do it,” protested Prince. 

“ I don’t wish you to conceal a crime. There 
has been no crime to conceal. I am not des- 
peratly wicked and given over to sin and in- 
iquity, any more than yourself, young man,” 
added Simon Potter. “I would no more con- 
ceal a crime than you would. That is not the 
point.” 

“ What is the point, then ? ” asked Prince, 
deeply interested. 

“ There comes them gals agin,” said the 
strange man, suddenly resuming his usual dialect, 
and putting on the hat with the conic crown. 
“ Gals has ears.” 

But the Undine only shot past the solitary 
rower, and was soon out of hearing. 

“ Them gals will want to know what my 
business was with you,” said Simon Potter, with 
a rather troubled expression, as he took off the 
conic hat, and placed it on the thwart by his 
side. 

“You wished me to collect your interest for 


252 


THE DOECAS CLUB. 


you. You do not object to my saying as much 
as that to them if asked — do you?” 

‘‘ No, I don’t.” 

“ It will be no more than the truth.” 

“It is only a small part of the truth ; and 
half the truth is sometimes as much a lie as a 
deliberate falsehood. You mean to be honest, 
Prince ; but don’t cheat yourself. Don’t believe 
you are honest when you are not. Thieves, 
swindlers, and cheats persuade themselves that 
they are honest. Instead of telling half the 
truth, say to the girls that the matter does not 
concern them. That’s, honest.” 

“I don’t think it is a lie to tell as much of 
the truth as I think proper, when the truth does 
not concern those asking the questions,” replied 
Prince, who had some very clear ideas of his 
own on this subject, whether they were right or 
wrong. 

“ You may judge for yourself on that point,” 
added Simon Potter. “ Men and women are full 
of lies and deceit. They cheat and defraud each 
other. But this is not the question now.” 

“You began to tell me what the point was.” 

“ You are not asked to conceal a crime, or to 


THE DORCAS CLUB. . 253 

favor the escape of a criminal. Mr. Longimore 
is not a thief or a robber, whatever the people of 
the city may think. 

“ I am very glad to hear you say so.” 

“ But you don’t believe what I say.” 

“ I certainly desire to believe it.” 

‘‘That is all I ask. Now to the point. The 
cashier is practically charged with a crime. If 
he could be found, he would be arrested and 
thrown into jail. This would break his heart, 
which would be the same thing as breaking his 
neck. The bonds are gone ; the cashier is gone. 
These two things would convict him, under the 
circumstances. The story he has to tell would 
not be believed, for the only witness he has 
will lie, will perjure himself, will send him to 
the penitentiary for life, in order to enable the 
perjurer to make a hundred, dollars.” 

“ Who is the witness ? ” 

“I cannot tell you; but I have told you the 
exact truth. I would not tell a lie to save my 
neck from the gallows, or my body from a damp 
grave fifty feet under the cold waters of the 
bay. I ask of you only two things.” 

“What are they?” 


254 


THE DOECAS CLUB. 


“ First, that you will tell Mrs. Longimore her 
husband is alive.” 

“I will do that with the greatest pleasure.” 

“ But you must not mention my name.” 

“Will she believe me? 

“She will; or, if she will not, she shall not 
remain twenty-four hours in doubt.” 

“ Where is Mr. Longimore ? ” asked Prince, 
shaking himself to make sure that he was not 
dreaming. 

“I will not tell you yet.” 

“Well, what is the other thing I am to 
do?” 

“You are to see Mr. Longimore, and satisfy 
yourself of the truth of what I said, before you 
speak to any living soul, except the cashier’s 
wife and daughter.” 

“ Certainly I will do that. But when may I 
see him ? ” 

“This night.” 

“I promise, then, to keep the secret till I 
have seen him.” 

“ Very well ; but you must remember that 
any treachery on your part will cost him his 
life.” 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


255 


“ I am not capable of treachery, Simon Pot- 
ter. I have tried to believe that Mr. Longi- 
more was guilty of no crime ; and until I have 
seen him — if I am indeed to see him — nothing 
shall induce me to betray him. I could not do 
that. Where is he ? ” 

“ At my house in the woods. That is all I 
can tell you now. You must come to-night ; 
you must come alone. No one must see you. 
I will meet you at the mouth of Little River, 
at any hour you say.” 

Prince actually trembled when he realized the 
nature of the adventure he was to engage in ; 
but he was a plucky boy ; and he believed the 
strange inhabitant of the Northj^ort wood was 
honest and sincere, high-toned and high-minded. 
He considered the situation for a moment before 
he made any reply. Whatever he did, he must 
do without the knowledge of Fox Bushwell, or 
any other person. 

“ I will be at the mouth of Little River about 
half past ten to-night,” said he, “or as near 
that time as I can. It may be half an hour 
earlier, or half an hour later.” 

“ It will not harm me to wait. I am used 


256 


THE DOECAS CLUB. 


to the nighl' and the darkness, the cold and 
the storm, added Simon Potter. “ As soon as 
you can, t^dl the poor wife that her husband 
lives.” 

‘‘ I will ; I only fear that she will not believe me, 
because I cannot tell her any more,” replied 
Prince. 

“ She shall believe you.” 

Simon Potter drew in one of his oars, and, 
raising his short blue frock, he took from one 
of his pockets a dirty slip of paper, which he 
l>^nded to his companion. 

“ What is that ? ” 

“It is a message in writing from the husband 
lo his wife. I dared not speak of it before. If 
it should be found, all will be lost. There is 
death to the cashier in that note, if it should 
be seen by any one but his wife and the oldest 
daughter. Do you understand ? Beware, young 
man ! ” 

Prince thought the solitary oarsman was 
becoming a little melodramatic, and he could not 
help asking himself whether the business in 
which he was engaged was not some trick, 
some fancy of a disordered brain. As he was 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


257 


thinking, he opened the unsealed note in his 
hand. It was certainly the writing of the cash- 
ier, with which the young man was quite 
familiar. He read it, and then carefully placed 
the paper in his wallet. The boat in which he 
sat Avas still far from the shop of Don John 
for Simon had hardly rowed at all during the 
conversation. 

“ I guess it’s all fixed now,” said the strange 
man, with the nearest appearance to a smile 
which Prince had yet seen upon his face ; and 
with this remark he resumed his old tone and 
his usual dialect. 

“ If you will land me on the beach here, I 
will not trouble you to pull up to the boat- 
shop, added Prince, glancing at the shore, near 
which Simon had kept his boat, to avoid meet- 
ing other craft. 

“That’ll be a good deal better’n goin’ up to 
the shop, and givin’ them that’s there sumthin’ 
to talk about,” added the oarsman, as, with a 
few vigorous strokes, he drove his craft far up 
on the beach. 

“I can walk up in a few moments.” 

“Now, remember, young man, that the life 

17 


^58 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


of one that never did nothin’ wrong to no one 
is in your hands,” said Simon Potter, in a low 
tone. 

“ Tell him he can trust me, and that I will 
do all that a mortal can do to help him.” 

Prince shoved the old man’s boat back into 
the deep water, and then hastened up to the 
boat-shop, where he arrived at six o’clock, just 
as the Dorcas and the Undine came in. He 
assisted in housing the boats, and the girls were 
so full of enthusiasm in regard to the excursion, 
that he thought he should be asked no ques- 
tions about his relations with the strange man 
of the Northport woods, but he was mistaken. 

“ What in the world did that old man with 
the conic section on his head want of you. Pro- 
fessor Willingood?” asked Carrie West. 

“ He wanted me to do some business for him. 
Strange as he is, that old man owns land and 
has money invested in the city.” 

“ What does he wear that awful hat for ? ” 

“Why do you wear such a funny hat?” 

“ Because it is the fashion.” 

“Well, that hat is Simon Potter’s fashion. 
He is a fashion unto himself. But I must go 


THE DOECAS CLUB. 


259 


home ; ” and Prince ran away with more abrupt- 
ness than he often dared to use with the girls. 

He went home and ate his supper, which was 
all ready when he arrived. It was not a bad 
supper, for Fox Bushwell had provided much 
better for the table since the scene with his 
ward. But Prince, hungry as he was, thought 
less of his supper than usual that evening. Half 
a dozen times while he was eating, he put his 
hand into his pocket to assure himself of the 
safety of the wallet containing that little slip of 
paper. What a sensation that note would make 
if its contents were known to the people of the 
city ! If the editor of the newspaper could get 
hold of it, he would doubtless issue an extra, to 
inform his patrons of the astounding intelligence 
it revealed. 

Prince kept as calm as he could ; but as soon 
as his meal was finished, he hastened to the 
house of the cashier. The time was opportune, 
for the younger children had all been sent to 
bed, and Mrs. Longimore and Mollie were alone 
in the sitting-room. 

“Anything for me to do, Mrs. Longimore?” 
asked Prince, with more cheerfulness than he 


260 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


had dared to exhibit since the departure of the 
rashior. 

‘‘ Nothing at all, Prince. You are very kind 
h take so much care of us,” replied Mrs. Lon- 
^imore. 

‘‘ I should be ashamed of myself if I did any 
less. If you only knew how happy it makes 
me to help you, you would let me do more. It 
is vacation this week, and I have plenty of 
time.” 

“ I heard you were very busy teaching the 
girls how to row.” 

“ I have been ; but they can all row pretty 
well now, and, like Othello, my occupation’s 
gone.” 

“ Minnie and Nellie were here this afternoon,” 
continued Mrs. Longimore. “ Tliey let me have 
another hundred dollars, though I do not need 
it. I have used but little of the first money 
they gave me. I protested against taking it ; 
but they said I must. They want Mollie to go 
back to school next Monday.” 

“ I hope she will do so. She will graduate 
next year, and it will be a pity for her not to 
have her diploma.” 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


261 


“ I cannot go and leave mother to do all the 
work,” said Mollie. 

“ There is no more work than before,” added 
the mother, who evidently favored the idea. 

“ But I cannot go. I don’t think I ought to 
associate with the other girls now,” replied Mol- 
lie, as the tears started in her eyes. 

“ The girls don’t think so,” interposed Prince. 
“You were chosen leader of the Dorcas Club.” 

“ The girls are very kind. They have treated 
me ever so much better than I deserve.” 

“ I am sure they have not,” protested Prince, 
earnestly. “ They hope you will be in the boat 
some time this week, and learn your part as 
leader.” 

“ O, no ; I cannot do that.” 

“Why not?” 

“ My poor father ! ” sobbed Mollie. 

“ She don’t feel like doing anything,” added 
Mrs. Longimore, wiping away her own tears. 

“ While we are living on charity, 1 cannot 
think of joining any boat club,” said Mollie. 
“ I can’t help thinking of poor father every 
hour, and almost every minute of the day. If 
he had died at home — ” 


262 


THE DOECAS CLUB. 


“ Perhaps he is not dead,” suggested Prince, 
who hardly dared to tell his good news at once. 
“Indeed, I believe he is not dead.” 

“If he is not dead, I am afraid he is worse 
than dead,” added the poor wife. “ I would 
rather he were buried in the deep waters of the 
bay, than feel all my life that he is a felon.” 

“You look on the dark side of the case, Mrs. 
Longimore. Perhaps he is neither dead nor a 
felon.” 

“ If he is alive I am afraid he took the bonds.” 

“ Perhaps not.” 

“I will not believe poor father is guilty of a 
crime,” added Mollie, so grieved that Prince 
dared not say what he had to say. 

“ Let us not talk about it. It is a terrible mys- 
tery which we cannot fathom,” interposed the 
wife. 

“But I am almost sure we shall learn some- 
thing about the matter before long,” continued 
Prince, a little more decidedly, as he gradually 
felt his way to the great revelation he had to 
make. 

“ What do you mean, Prince ? ” demanded 
Mrs. Longimore, 





The brief Not® was given to Mrs- Longimore. Page 265. 














THE DORCAS CLUB. 


263 


Mollie wiped away her tears, and gazed stead- 
fastly at the young man. 

“Of course. I can’t tell,” added Prince. 

“ Have the bank people obtained any news, 
or any clew ? ” 

“ No,” replied Prince, emphatically. “ I would 
not have any of them know what I have said 
for all the world.” 

“ What have you said ? ” 

“ I only said I was almost sure we should 
hear something from Mr. Longimore before 
long.” 

“ Why don’t you explain what you mean ? ” 
demanded Mrs. Longimore with intense emotion. 

“ If you know that he is dead. Prince, do not 
conceal it from us. We can bear anything 
now,” added Mollie. 

“ I don’t believe he is dead, and I have reason 
to think he is innocent of anything wrong.” 

“ Tell us what you know. Prince. You don’t 
know what agony you are causing me,” pleaded 
the stricken wife. “You have something to tell 
us — I know you have.” 

“ I have ; but before I say a single word, I 
must caution you not to repeat one word I say, 
or even hint at it.” 


264 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


“ Then there is something wrong.” 

“ I think not ; at least, I hope not.” 

“ You hope not ? ” 

“ I believe not ; but I don’t know much about 
it. You must keep still, at least for a day or 
two, or until, you or I know more about it.” 

“ Certainly we can do nothing to injure poor 
father, if he is still living,” said Mollie, wrought 
up to the highest pitch of anxiety. 

“ Mr. Longimore is still ahve,” added Prince. 

“ Where is he ? ” gasped the wife. 

“ O, Prince ! ” groaned Mollie. 

“ I don’t know that I ought to tell even you 
where he is ; but I shall see him to-night,” 
replied Prince in a whisper, as he glanced at 
the windows. 

“Can it be true?” 

“You may depend upon it,” added the mes- 
senger of Simon Potter, as he took from his 
wallet the dirty slip of paper. “ Be calm, now ; 
for if we make the slightest mistake, Mr. Longi- 
more may not long be alive.” 

With a struggle the mother and daughter, 
awed by these fearful words, regained in some 
degree their self-possession. 


THE DOUCAS CLUB. 


265 


“We must all be very prudent,” continued 
Prince. “ Are you calm enough to read a line 
from him ? ” 

“ O, yes ! Give it to me ! ” 

The brief note was given to Mrs. Longimore, 
and panting with emotion, she read it to her- 
self. 

“What is it, mother? Read it!” cried 
Mollie. 

Mrs. Longimore, with faltering utterance, read 
the note, as follows : — 

“My dear Wife and Children: I am 
still alive, but I am suffering what no words can 
tell. I am guilty of no crime, though every- 
thing is against me. Help me, by your silence, 
to prove my innocence. I could not live another 
day without telling you I am not a felon. Send 
Prince to me, for he may be able to save me. 

R. L.” 

The mother and daughter wept together ; and ’ 
for some time Prince respected their silence, 
hardly able to restrain his own tears. 

“ You are satisfied now — are you ? ” he asked, 
at last. 

“ I am. Prince ; it seems like a dream,” 
replied the poor wife. 


266 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


“ That’s father’s writing, certainly,” added 
Mollie, as she took the slip of paper from her 
mother. 

“All that I have said is true to the letter,” 
said Prince. 

“But where is he?” 

“ He is not three miles from here.” 

“ And you are to see him to-night ? ” 

“ I am.” 

“ Can’t I see him ? May I not go with you?” 

“I must do just as I was told to do. I must 
go alone. But you shall hear from him again 
in the morning. I will not sleep till I tell you 
all I know,” replied the young man, glancing 
at the clock. 

“If he is innocent, why did he go away?” 
asked Mrs. Longimore. 

“ I don’t know ; I cannot explain it. Perhaps 
he lost the bonds ; perhaps some one stole them. 
Probably he went off on account of the loss of 
the bonds ; but he says he is innocent, and we 
must take his word for it till we know to the 
contrary. He may have made some mistake, 
without meaning to do wrong, and was afraid 
to meet the directors of the bank.” 


THE DORCAS CLITB. 


267 


“If he is not guilty of a crime, I don’t care 
for anything else,” added Mrs. Longimore. 

“ I am going now. If I get back before day- 
light, shall I come here?” 

“Yes. Ring the bell; I shall hear it,” replied 
the poor lady. 

Prince went home. 


268 


THE DOECAS CLUB. 


CHAPTER XIV. 

IN THE GLOOM OF THE NIGHT. 

P OSSIBLY Prince Willingood’s standard in 
regard to deception was not so high as 
that of Simon Potter, and he made a distinction 
between telling all he knew and wilfully deceiv- 
ing any one. He did not tell Fox Bush well 
what he had done that day, nor what he in- 
tended to do that night ; and the old man had no 
suspicion that any unusual events were in pro- 
gress. If Fox Bush well got his eye on a dollar 
which might possibly be raked into his coffers, 
he paid but little heed to an5dhing else. He 
kept his gaze fixed on that dollar until it was 
hidden in his own pocket. Since the fire he had 
been very busy putting his new house in order, 
and looking after the insurance upon the one 
which was destroyed. The company was not 
ready to pay him. The officers asked him a 


THE DORCAS CLDB 


269 


great many questions in regard to the origin of 
the fire. They had inquired of Mrs. Pining and 
Prince in regard to this matter. Then they 
wanted to know something more in regard to 
the value of the property destroyed. Fox Bush- 
well had never insured any houses or furniture 
before, and he had taken out this policy only a 
month before the fire. 

The insurance company did not say that any- 
thing was wrong, or even that they suspected 
anything was wrong. They only delayed pay- 
ment, and asked questions — not very awkward 
questions, but such as caused Fox Bush well to 
wonder what they were driving at. If they sus- 
pected any irregularity, why didn't they say so, 
and give him the opportunity to defend himseK, 
and to show conclusively that the origin of the 
fire was a dense mystery, which no human be- 
ing could find out ? 

He had gone to bed as usual that night, but 
rather later than his ordinary time — at half past 
ten, — had gone to sleep, and had been called 
by Prince. That was all he knew about it. 
Neither Mrs. Pining nor Prince contradicted his 
statement in any important particular. 


270 THE DOilCi^S CLUB. 

Fox Bushwell was interested in this business 
matter, and he gave but little , attention to any- 
thing else for the time being. In fact, it troubled 
him, though he did not say so. He had not 
slept well nights since the inquiry began ; and 
when his ward came into the house, after his 
visit to the house of the Longimores, the old 
man was considerably exhausted ; in fact, ready 
to sleep. At nine o’clock, Mrs. Pining retired ; 
she always went to bed at that hour, whether 
she was sleepy or not. Fox Bushwell bolted the 
front door, and retreated to his room a few 
moments later. 

Prince was wide awake, and, as may well be 
supposed, he was intensely excited in view of 
the night’s work before him. He waited till he 
was satisfied that his uncle was asleep, or till 
he ought to have been asleep, and then went 
into the back-room. He did not like to go out, 
to be absent so long, leaving a door unfastened 
behind him, for he knew not what treasures 
the money-lender might have in the house. 
After looking over the ground, he decided to 
get out at one of the windows, which was so 
high that no one could easily get in at it from 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


271 


the outside, if he left it unfastened, though he 
knew how to get in himself, if he should happen 
to return in ‘season to do so. He got out the 
window, and “hung off,” dropping upon the 
grass beneath. The sash came down with a 
slam as he dropped, but it was so far from the 
sleepers in the house that they were not likely 
to hear it. 

Walking on the grass, and stepping very care- 
fully, he gained the street. The night was 
cloudy and dark, thus favoring his expedition. 
He hastened to the boat-shop of Don John, 
where he could obtain a small boat, which the 
owner allowed him to use whenever he wished. 
On the way he could not help thinking what 
he should say to his uncle in case his absence 
was discovered ; but he did not worry himself 
in regard to such a contingency, for his uncle 
seldom questioned him as to where he had been, 
or what he had been doing. In the vicinity of 
the shop all was as still as a tomb. There was 
no light in Mrs. Kamsey’s cottage ; and the boat- 
builder, who was an early riser, was doubtless 
fast asleep, though it was only half past nine 
o’clock. Prince found the oars under the shop, 


272 


THE DOECAS CLUB. 


and silently embarked on his gloomy voyage. 

Though not a member of the Yacht Club, he 
was thoroughly experienced in the handling of 
boats, and knew the bay and harbor quite as 
well as the average of the boys of the city. On 
the high ground of the city were two spires 
whose outline could be seen on the sky, dark as 
the night was ; and Prince knew that these two 
steeples, kept in range from the boat-shop, made 
a course that would carry the navigator clear of 
the trend of the coast projecting out into the 
bay north of the mouth of Little River. 

Pulling out from the pier, he ‘‘brought the 
two spires into one,” as nautical men express it. 
He was sorry no sail-boat was available, for a 
three-mile pull is not particularly pleasant, all 
alone in a dark night, even when one knows 
the course, and feels quite at home in the boat. 
But Prince kept thinking and kept rowing for 
an hour. He passed the headland, and then 
followed the shore towards the river. It could 
not have been ten minutes either way from the 
time he had appointed to be at the meeting- 
place, when he lay upon his oars, to listen for 
any sound which might indicate the presence of 


THE DOECAS CLUB. 


273 


Simon Potter, who, if there, could not have 
failed to hear the stroke of his oars. 

“ Hoo, hoo, hoo ! ” were the first sounds 
which saluted the waiting ears of the boatman. 

It might be Simon Potter, or it might be a 
cat-owl. 

“ Hoo, hoo, hoo ! ” replied Prince ; and Simon 
Potter might have thought it was the voice of 
his expected visitor or a cat-owl. 

“ Prince ! ” said a voice on the shore. 

“ Simon Potter ! ” replied the young man ; 
and, resuming his oars, he soon beached his 
boat. 

“You are on time,” said the recluse of the 
Northport woods, as the visitor leaped upon the 
land. 

“Yes, sir; everything worked well for me. 
My uncle w'ent to bed earlier than he does 
sometimes, so that the coast was clear.” 

“ Mr. Longimore is waiting for you in an 
agony of doubt. He feels that he has staked 
everything upon your judgment and fidelity,” 
added Simon Potter. 

“ He has made no mistake. I only hope he will 
be able to show that he is innocent of any crime,” 
18 


274 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


replied Prince, as he fastened the painter of the 
boat to a tree. 

“ That is all that troubles him. The fact is, 
he can’t prove anything. But follow me, and 
you shall see him very soon.” 

Simon Potter led the way through the woods, 
and in a few moments he arrived at his little 
cottage, which would have no more than satis- 
fied the ambition of a thrifty day -laborer. Con- 
nected with it was a small barn, in which he 
kept his cow and pig. There was no light in 
the house ; and Prince groped his way after his 
conductor, who led him to a chair. 

“Sit down. Prince. We have no lights here, 
under the present circumstances. I will call 
him ; and then I shall stay outside, to guard 
against any possible surprise.” 

“ But where is Mr. ” 

“Don’t speak his name,” interposed Simon 
Potter. “Prudence costs nothing, and a miser 
can afford to be careful. You need not know 
where he is concealed, for the sheriff might 
come here a dozen times without suspecting his 
hiding-place.” 

The strange man left the room ; and Prince 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


275 


thought, from the sound of his footsteps, that 
he went in the direction of the barn. It was 
some time before the silence was again disturbed. 

“Prince!” said a voice, trembling with fear 
or emotion. 

“ Here,” replied the young man, rising from 
his chair ; and the next moment his hand was 
grasped by one that seemed very cold and bony 
to him. 

“I am not a felon,” gasped the cashier, for 
of course it was he, though his name was not 
to be spoken, even in the solitude of the woods. 
“Will you believe me ? ” 

The hand trembled, and the quiver of it 
seemed to be conveyed through the frame of the 
visitor. 

“ I am willing to believe it,” replied Prince. 

“But how are they — my wife and children?” 
whispered Mr. Longimore. 

“ They are well ; but they have suffered more 
than I can tell.” 

“ So have I, more than any one can tell. I 
have seen the newspaper, and I know that seme 
people think that I committed suicide. I was 
tempted to do that. T intended to end the life 


276 


THE DOECAS CLUB. 


which was overshadowed and broken down by 
a calamity for which I am not resposible. Simon 
Potter saved me. He bade me live, at least 
till I could learn whether my life was worth 
saving,” groaned Mr. Longimore, as he led 
Prince to the only window of the room, at 
which they seated themselves. 

Accustomed now to the darkness, the young 
man could see a dim outline of the cashier’s 
face. It was so white and so thin that the 
visitor could easily have persuaded himself, if 
he had been superstitious, that he was in com- 
munion with one from another world. Mr. 
Longimore took his hand again, as though the 
warmth of the young blood carried heat to his 
cold heart and his cold frame. 

“Where is the boat in which you left the 
city ? ” asked Prince, intent upon solving some 
of the dark questions in the case which had 
perplexed the gossips as well as the officers of 
police. 

“I don’t know. Prince. Simon Potter took 
care of it, and I know not whether he has 
hidden, burned, or sunk it. I had something 
else to think of, and I did not care. He will 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


277 


tell you. I came here early on that Tuesday 
morning, a week ago, before even the sailors on 
the vessels in the harbor were stirring, for I 
kept close to the shore, where none could see 
me. But I was seeking only a grave. I desired 
only to send a message to my wife, that she and 
my children might not carry it rankling in 
their hearts, that I had died guilty of a crime. 
Simon Potter loved me, and has saved me so 
far.” 

‘‘But if you had done nothing wrong, why 
did you leave the city?” asked Prince. 

“ Perhaps I was a coward. Now I believe that 
I was,” sobbed the poor man. “ The bonds 
were gone, and I was not brave enough to tell 
the directors that they were all destroyed.” 

“ Destroyed ? ” 

“Yes, destroyed; burned to ashes,” groaned 
the cashier; and his companion could feel the 
tremor of his frame, as he clasped the hand he 
held more closely. 

“How could they be burned?” asked Prince 
intensely excited. 

“ They were burned with your uncle’s house.” 

“ I don’t understand it.” 


278 


THE DOECAS CLUB. 


‘‘ I will tell you the whole story. It was for 
that I wished to see you,” answered the cashier. 
‘‘ Do you know why I wished to see you rather 
than any one else ? ” 

“ I hope it was because you thought you could 
trust me.” 

“ It was for that, certainly ; but for another 
reason, also.” 

‘‘What is it?” 

“ Because you live in the house of Fox Bush- 
well. He is your uncle, I know ; but he is a 
hard man.” 

“ I ought to know that as well as the next 
person,” added Prince, heartily. 

“ But I am afraid he is not an honest man. 
God forgive me, if I wrong him ! I would not 
speak ill of any one.” 

“ I don’t think you are very far from the 
truth.” 

“ Do you think he could be guilty of any 
great crime?” 

“ I don’t know about that ; I shouldn’t want 
to say. I’m afraid he would do almost anything 
for money. He loves it more than he loves his 
own soul, in spite of his preaching.” 


THE DOKCAS CLUB. 


279 


‘*I will tell you the whole story, Prince, and 
I hope you will he able to hel^) me. My only 
reliance is upon you.” 

The cashier related all the incidents which 
had occurred upon that eventful Monday night, 
as they were detailed in a preceding chapter. 

“My uncle took the wrong bundle of papers 
when he left the bank,” said Prince, musing. 
“ They were burned in the fire. But wouldn’t 
the government replace the bonds, if it can be 
proved that they were burned ? ” 

“ Perhaps it would, if it could be proved 
beyond a doubt. I want to know if it can be 
proved.” 

“Certainly it can. Uncle Fox will help you.” 

“ Will he ? Do you know that he will ? ” 
asked Mr. Longimore, eagerly. 

“ I don’t see how he can do anything else,” 
added Prince. 

“ Has he told any one that the bonds were 
destroyed? ” 

“ I don’t know that he has,” answered the 
young man, perplexed by the situation. 

If Fox Bushwell knew that the bonds were 
destroyed, why had he not told the directors the 


280 


THE DOECAS CLUB. 


truth ? Assuredly he did know it, for he and 
the cashier had searched for the papers after the 
fire, finding nothing but the empty brass kettle. 

“ Prince, I have had seven days to think of 
this terrible matter. I. have blamed myself for 
not telling the whole truth that morning, instead 
of running away like a felon ; but, after all, I 
think I have been wise, as men of the world 
are wise. I have consulted expediency rather 
than absolute justice. I have trusted to myself, 
rather than the simple truth, for safety. If I 
had staid in the city, I should have been arrested 
before dinner time. I should have been await- 
ing my trial at this moment in a prison.” 

“ I suppose you did what you thought was 
best,” added Prince. 

“I was crazy with excitement when I found 
the bonds were gone ; when I realized that they 
had been burned in the fiames of your uncle’s 
house, I could not think ; I was beside myself. 
I demanded the bonds of Fox BushweU in the 
morning but he could only tell me they were 
burned ; and I believed him then.” 

“ Don’t you believe him now ? ” asked Prince. 

“God forgive me if I wrong him! I don’t 


THE DOECAS CLUB. 


281 


know whether or not they are destroyed. They 
may he. Doubtless they are. I know not. 
Will Fox Bushwell say they are burned ? Will 
he tell the whole truth?” 

“Why not?” 

“Why has he not told it?” 

“ I don’t know ; I don’t understand it,” said 
the bewildered young man. 

“As I read it in the newspaper, Fox Bush- 
well said I was rather wild in my manner ; that 
I gave him the bundle of papers he had left 
at the bank, only saying I thought he might 
want them. The — Your uncle says this was 
all that passed between us,” continued Mr. Lon- 
gimore, gasping with emotion. 

“Well, wasn’t it all?” 

“ All ? No. I demanded the bonds of him ; 
I was wild ; I thrust my fist through the glass 
to gain admission to the house. I was crazy 
with the agony of the discovery that the bonds 
were not in the bank vault. I demanded them 
as I would one of my children if he had kid- 
napped it. I shook my clinched fist in his face ; 
I grasped him by the throat ; I told him I was 
ruined, that my wife and children were ruined. 


282 THE DORCAS CLUB. 

He told me, trembling like an aspen beneath 
my grasp, that the bonds were burned. Not one 
word does he say of all this when Mr. Doane 
and the directors asked him about the inter- 
view ; only, that I gave him the papers, saying 
that he might want them, and then fled in an 
instant. If there had been a house very near, 
its inmates might have heard all I said. I was 
furious, for it was a matter of life or death to 
me ; of what is better than life, or worse than 
death. Not one word did he say of what he 
knew to be the truth.” 

‘‘ Perhaps he was afraid to say anything for 
fear he might » get into trouble himself,” sug- 
gested Prince. “ He is a timid man.” 

“Perhaps fear sealed his lips — I don’t know. 
I would not wrong him. I have thought it all 
over a thousand times in my solitude. Night 
and day I have considered it. Through you, 
Prince, I must seek the truth. You are a good,' 
brave boy ; and you will help me ? ” 

“ I will, with all the powers I have.” 

“ Thank you. Prince. It is terrible to think 
of being branded as a felon, as I am. It is ter- 
rible to think of a ceU in a prison ; but it is 


THE DOECAS CLUB. 


283 


worse to think of my good name blighted, and 
my poor family weeping over my living tomb : ” 

The cashier sobbed in bitterness of spirit, and 
Prince sought to change the current of his 
thought. 

“ Very likely my uncle was afraid to tell the 
whole truth,” said he. 

“ When was he questioned in regard to this 
interview ? ” 

“Not till late in the afternoon of the day you 
left.” 

“ Then he believed I could not come from my 
watery grave in the bay to confront him,” 
added the cashier, who seemed to be filled with 
grave suspicions, though he failed to give full 
expression to them. 

“ I will do anything and everything you wish, 
if you will only tell me what I am to do. I’m 
not afraid of anybody or anything.” 

“For this business you need more of discre- 
tion than courage. Through you I desire to 
approach Fox Bushwell. You know him as well 
as I do. I want you to sound him, so as to 
ascertain whether he will deny the truth in 
regard to the destruction of the bonds. In one 


284 


THE DOECAS CLUB. 


word, Prince, I mean to do now what I ought 
to have done on the day I left the city, when, 
maddened with the fear of dishonor, I fled like 
a thief. I don’t blame my friends for thinking 
I was a thief. I acted like one ; but I wept 
over my own conduct before the sun went down 
that day.” 

“I am to sound him,” mused Prince. 

“Do it in your own way ; only be alone when 
you talk with him,” added Mr. Longimore. 

“Shall I tell you how I would sound him?” 

“Yes, tell me.” 

“ I would hurl the truth into his teeth, fairly 
and squarely, without giving him a single second 
to invent an explanation. He lied to Mr. Doane, 
and he lied to all the directors.” 

“He certainly did; but he is your uncle. 
Prince, and — ” 

“He is none the better for that. He has 
starved me and cheated me out of nearly all the 
comforts of life. I wish him no harm ; but he 
shall tell the truth. He shall go before the 
directors of the bank, and inform them in what 
manner the bonds were destroyed,” added the 
young man, vehemently. 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


285 


“ You are young and full of enthusiasm, 
Prince. I am afraid he will not do what you 
expect of him. I am afraid he will deny every- 
thing, even if I should confront him again.” 

“ He cannot.” 

“ Perhaps he will not. If he does not, you 
may tell the directors where I am ; or, better, 
come and let me know, and I will go to them.” 

“Suppose my uncle refuses to speak the truth, 
what then ? ” asked Prince. 

“ Nothing, then,” said Mr. Longimore, with a 
shudder. 

“ What do you mean, sir ? ” 

“ There will then be no hope for me. Can 
I stand before the directors and tell them that 
the bonds were destroyed, when Fox Bushwell 
denies it ? The government would not then 
replace them ; and, under such circumstances, 
the bank officers would be more inclined to 
believe your uncle than to believe me.” 

“What will you do then?” 

“Die then, as I would have done before, if 
Simon Potter had not saved me ! ” exclaimed 
Mr. Longimore, bursting into tears, and sobbing 
like a child. 


286 


THE DOKCAS CLUB. 


“Not SO bad as that,” added the pitying 
Prince. 

“ Say no more, my friend, about that. Are 
my family suffering ? ” 

“ O, no ; they have everything in plenty. The 
Dorcas Society gave your wife two hundred dol- 
lars, which they had collected to buy a boat ; 
or, rather, lent it to them, without the knowl- 
edge of any one but the association. They shall 
want for nothing.” 

“ Give my wife this letter, which I have 
written to-day. It is not signed ; but she will 
know the writing. Don’t lose it.” 

“ I will not.” 

“ Now, you will talk with your uncle to- 
morrow, or as soon as you can. You must wait 
your time, and do not be rash.” 

“ I shall do the business as I told you, and 
when it is done you shall hear from me. I will 
come to you at night ; but I may not be able 
to settle the matter for several days.” 

“I can wait a week, now that my wife and 
Molhe know that I am alive, and not a felon,” 
said the cashier, sadly. “ I suppose your uncle 
will take the furniture ; or did my brother pay 
the note? ” 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


287 


“ He did not. He has failed in business, and 
ean do nothing. But my uncle shall not take 
the furniture, if I can help it.” 

“ Bless you, my brave boy ! ” added the fugi- 
tive, pressing the warm hand he still held. 
“ Go, now ; but let me see you again as soon 
as you have good news for me. If you have it 
not, do not come. I shall understand your 
absence.” 

Prince left the house, and was immediately 
joined by Simon Potter, who conducted him to 
his boat, and bade him adieu as he pulled away 
towards the city. When he landed at the boat- 
shop, he heard the clock strike one. Half an 
hour later he rang the door-bell at the home of 
the cashier, and was admitted without delay to 
the dining-room, for both mother and daughter 
were too anxious to allow them to sleep, and 
had not yet retired. 


288 


THE DOKCAS CLUB 


CHAPTER XV. 


THE HOLE IN THE CHIMNEY. 

RINCE soon told the story of his interview 



I with the cashier, and fully explained in 
what manner the bonds had been destroyed. 

“ Wasn’t it very strange that your uncle should 
make such a mistake?” asked Mrs. Longimore, 
when the young man had related the substance 
of the interview with her husband. 

“ Mr. Longimore did not think it was very 
strange,” replied Prince., “ He had done up 
both packages himself, in the same paper and 
with the same tape, so that they looked exactly 
alike.” 

“ But how singular it was that, after your 
uncle had taken the wrong package, his house 
should be burned on that particular night.” 

Prince had jiot had his attention directed in 
this way before; and he was forced to confess 
that it was rather singular. 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


289 


“Couldn’t Mr. Bushwell see that he had the 
wrong bundle before he put it into the brass 
kettle?” persisted Mrs. Longimore. 

“ It was down cellar, and in the evening. I 
suppose it did not occur to him that there was 
any possibility of its being the wrong one,” 
replied Prince. “But I don’t blame him for 
any mistake he made. I want to give him fair 
play; for, whatever mistake he made, Mr. Lon- 
gimore must have made the same one when he 
put the wrong package into his tin box, and 
returned it to the vault.” 

“ But I can’t help thinking how very strange 
it was that your uncle’s house was burned on 
that particular night, and after the mistake.” 

“ I admit all you say ; but if the mistake had 
been discovered before the fire, it would not 
have been thought so very odd,” answered 
Prince, who was an earnest advocate of fairness, 
and was unwilhng that his uncle should be con- 
victed of anything of which he was not guilty. 

“ Mr. Bushwell, I think, regarded the blunder 
and the event which followed as rather out of 
the common course, or he would not have told 
such an abominable lie about his last meeting 
19 


290 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


with my husband. Not a word about the burned 
bonds.” 

“ Uncle Fox is a timid man ; and I have no 
doubt he was afraid to tell the truth. But if 
he will tell the truth now, all may yet be well.” 

“ This business must be very unpleasant to 
you, Prince. You have been very kind to us, 
and I am sorry it falls into your hands,” added 
Mrs. Longimore. 

“ Of course I don’t want to quarrel with my 
uncle ; but I am willing to do even that for the 
sake of justice. I feel that Mr. Longimore is 
entirely innocent ; and it would be a crime for 
me to do nothing. But now you must wait, for 
I may not have a chance to speak to my uncle 
for several days. Mrs. Pining is almost always 
in the house, since her best gown was burned; 
and I can’t let her know anything about the 
matter.” 

“We can wait, now that we know father has 
done nothing wrong,” said Mollie. “I’m sure, 
I feel happy again.” 

So do I,” added her mother. “ Of course 
you must take your own time. Prince.” 

“ If what you and I know were discovered, 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


291 


your husband would be arrested .and thrown 
into prison, Mrs. Longimore. I am afraid that 
uncle Fox would never tell the truth under such 
circumstances. But you may be sure I will not 
delay the business a day or an hour longer than 
is necessary.” 

Prince delivered the letter, and bade them good 
night, not thinking that the morning hours had 
come, and walked towards home. He could not 
help thinking of what the cashier’s wife had 
said. Though she did not say so, in so many 
words, she evidently suspected that Fox Bush- 
well might be guilty of a greater wrong than 
telling one or a dozen falsehoods. As she sug^ 
gested, it was certainly very strange that the 
house had been destroyed by fire on that very 
night the mistake in the bank had been made. 
But then, as the packages were exactly alike in 
appearance, the blunder was not so very unac- 
countable. The two bundles lay on the table in 
the directors’ room, and Fox Bushwell might 
easily have picked up the wrong one. What- 
ever opinion Prince had of his uncle, it was not 
pleasant to believe that he could be guilty of 
any premeditated crime. The young man tried 


292 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


to convince himself that his guardian was not a 
thief; but the strangeness of the circumstances 
troubled him. 

These reflections were disturbed by his arrival 
at the gate of his uncle’s house. He entered 
the yard with the utmost caution, and crept to 
the rear of the lot. Placing a flour barrel, which 
had been left behind the house, under it, he 
prepared to get in at the window by which he 
had made his egress nearly flve hours before. 
He recognized the danger of an accident, which 
might alarm his uncle, und perhaps arouse the 
whole neighborhood. He had no talent for lying 
and deception, and he was not even willing to 
invent a story to satisfy his uncle, in the emer- 
gency of being discovered. He was sure he 
could silence him by alluding to the bonds ; but 
he was not willing to do this under such unfa- 
vorable circumstances. These considerations only 
made him the more careful when he mounted 
the flour-barrel and raised the window. At this 
point he took the precaution to remove his 
shoes. 

Fortunately, Fox Bushwell and the house- 
keeper slept soundly ; or, if they did not. Prince 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 298 

made so little noise that it would have been impos- 
sible for them to hear him. Closing the window 
behind him, he crept into the kitchen. The 
difficult part of the enterprise was to ascend the 
stairs, for the weight of a person caused them 
to creak. To prevent this. Prince kept close to 
the wall, where the string-piece was nailed to 
the studs, thus avoiding the strain on the weaker 
side. By taking a long time for the ascent, he 
effected it in safety, and stealthily as a mouse 
crawled into his chamber, the door of which he 
had left open. He listened, and could hear the 
snoring of the weary money-lender. In a few 
moments he was in bed, but not yet to sleep. 
The events of the night had been too exciting 
to permit him to slumber for a time. 

He thought over what had occurred in the 
Northport woods ; and then his mind went back 
to the night of the fire, when the bonds had 
been destroyed. He recalled all the events of 
that evening. Naturally enough the startling 
features of the affair came first to his mind — 
the cry of fire which had roused him from his 
deep sleep. He had waked his uncle, helped 
dress him, and then liurried him out of the 


294' 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


house. Certainly, the old man was fast asleep 
when he called him; he. had no doubt of that. 
A man so timid as he could not lie in his bed 
while the smoke and the flames were creeping up 
to him. But all the events subsequent to the 
breaking out of the conflagration were patent to 
everybody in the neighborhood. The trembling 
and groaning of the miser in the street had been 
seen and heard by the neighbors in the light of 
the fire. But what had happened before the 
smoke had wakened him ? This was a more 
important inquiry on the part of Prince. 

“ Let me see,” said he to himself. “ I went 
to bed about ten. I was down stairs just before, 
and uncle Fox was in the cellar. There was 
nothing very odd about that, for he cuts up the 
kindlings for the fire every evening before he 
goes to bed. I went to bed ; but the tea, which 
had become stronger, or the Latin that bothered 
me, kept me awake. Why didn’t 1 think of 
this before? I heard the clock strike twelve 
before uncle Fox went to his room, and then 
he came up as still as a mouse. I thought he 
was more considerate than usual, for I am sure 
he came up stairs in his stocking feet. I dropped 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


293 


asleep then ; but the fire must have broken out 
in less than half an hour, for the whole concern 
was burned down when the clock struck one. 
Uncle Fox has told everybody he went to bed 
about half past ten that night; but I know he 
didn’t go till after twelve. Why should he lie 
about it?” 

Prince could not imagine why the old man, 
who was a clergyman, too, should lie. There 
seemed to be no occasion for a falsehood. Then 
the wakeful young man recalled other incidents 
since the fire, especially the hearing of the ham- 
mer, on the night the family moved, in the 
cellar. Prince had gone down stairs to ascer- 
tain the cause of the noise, and found that his 
uncle was at work in the cellar. He was fillino- 

O 

up a liole in the chimney near its foundation at 
the bottom of the cellar, which affected the 
draught, causing the flue to smoke. That was 
the explanation the old man gave of the nature 
of his night job. Prince could not see how a 
hole in the chimney four or five feet below the 
stove flue, could affect the draught ; but Fox 
Bushwell had been a brick-mason once, and he 
ought to know. 


296 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


Of course, if his uncle said so, the draught 
must have been affected ; and it was quite decent 
and proper to fill up the hole which made the 
mischief, especially as the old man had bricks 
and mortar, and knew how to do it. Prince 
was a boy, and had a boy’s curiosity; and, as 
any boy would have done, he went down cellar to 
see how and where the job had been done. He 
had found the arch, on one side of which the 
aperture had been closed, filled with old rubbish, 
just as though Fox Bush well did not care to 
have his handiwork inspected, though he had 
learned the mason’s trade. It seemed just as 
though the work had been covered up, so« that 
no one should see where the hole had been 
stopped. Besides, Prince was of the opinion, 
whether right or wrong, that a hole below the 
stove-flue in the kitchen would not affect the 
draught. The cook- stove had worked very well 
the first day it was set up, so far as he could 
remember. 

“Uncle Fox, it seems from Mr. Longimore’s 
story, had a place in the cellar of the old house 
where he kept his valuable papers,” Prince 
reasoned to himself. “ He kept them in an old 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


297 


brass kettle ; and when he brought the package 
from the bank^ he put it into this kettle, and 
stowed it away in the wall. He laid up his 
treasure in the cellar. He put the bonds into 
it, and they were burned. If he stopped to 
look at the package, he must have seen the 
label on it. Perhaps he looked at it, and per- 
haps he didn’t. If he had a place in the old 
cellar to keep his papers, why shouldn’t he have 
one in the new cellar? The question before the 
house just now is, whether or not that place in 
the foundation of the chimney isn’t the safe for 
uncle Fox’s papers. If he lied to the directors 
about the meeting with the cashier that morn- 
ing ; if he lied to everybody about the time he 
went to bed on the night of the fire, there must 
be something worth lying for. I should rather 
like to know what’s in the hole in the chimney, 
if anything. I will know, too. There are bricks 
and mortar in the cellar, and if I can get those 
two bricks out, I can put them in well enough, 
especially if they are to be covered up with 
rubbish. 

“ When can I do it ? It won’t be safe for 
me to dig out the bricks when uncle Fox is in 


298 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


the house, for he will hear me. He is out of 
the house a good part of the day; hut then Mrs. 
Pining is in it. The more I tliink of it, the 
better satisfied I am that I ought to know 
what’s in that hole before I say anything to my 
precious guardian about the bonds. If he hap- 
pened by any possible chance to save them from 
the fire, and stowed them away in the hole in 
in the chimney, he will remove them if I say 
anything.” 

Thus thinking and thus talking to himself, 
he went to sleep from sheer exhaustion, and 
without any attempt to do so. He that talks to 
himself generally talks to a fool ; but this is not 
always true. Prince’s talk to himself rather 
cheered him ; and he felt that he was talking to 
a pretty smart fellow on this occasion. He be- 
lieved that he had got an idea. Fox Bush well 
would lie any time for twenty-five cents, and of 
course for forty thousand dollars he would tell 
as many lies as twenty-five cents goes into forty 
thousand, if his life lasted long enough for him 
to do so. 

Prince slept and slept after the excitement 
and fatigue of the night. He did not hear his 


THE DOECAS CLXTB. 


299 


uncle call him, and he did not hear Mrs. Pining 
call him. He did not awake till the clock 
struck nine, when his nap seemed to end by 
limitation. He dressed himself rather mechani- 
cally, going over all the reflections which had 
occupied his mind before he went to sleep. As 
people often find it, his views were not half so 
firm and fixed in the daylight as they had been 
in the darkness, and much of the reasoning 
which was strong before, was weak now. Still 
he was determined at the first opportunity to 
explore that hole in the arch of the chimney. 
He had a suspicion, and it seemed to be a duty 
either to convict or acquit his uncle of the sup- 
posed wrong. 

“ Sufferin,’ dyin’ world ! ” groaned Mrs. Pining, 
Avhen he appeared in the kitchen, where his 
breakfast was waiting for him. “ I thought you 
was goin’ to lay abed all day ! ” 

‘‘ I was tired, and couldn’t go to sleep when 
I went to bed,” pleaded Prince. “Where is 
uncle Fox?” 

“ Gone to see the insurance folks,” snapped 
the housekeeper. “ I want my money to buy 
some things, and I can’t git none on’t till the 


800 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


insurance is paid. I hain’t got nothin’ to wear. 
I can’t ' go out o’ the house ; and Sabha’ day 
cornin’, and I can’t go to meetin’, nor nothin’. 
Folks lay abed all day, so I can’t get time to 
do nothin’, nuther. ” 

“I don’t generally lie abed so late.” 

“Well, you needn’t complain about your 
victuals ; it’s been standin’ two hours waitin’ for 
you. If I wanted to go out and buy some things, 
I can’t git no time to go.” 

“ I will not find any fault when I lie abed as 
late as I did this morning,” replied Prince, 
seating himself at the table. 

The young man ate his breakfast, and left the 
house. During the day he attended to his duties 
as instructor of the boat clubs. The next day 
he was up betimes in the morning, so that the 
housekeeper had no reason to complain of him. 
When he went into the kitchen, Mrs. Pining 
was reproaching her employer for not paying 
her interest, and setting forth her need of “ sun- 
thin’ to wear ; ” but the insurance folks had not 
paid him, and he was not ready to meet the 
demand. 

“You can give me sunthin’ — can’t you?” 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 301 

whined the widow. “Can’t you let me have 
fifteen dollars ? ” 

“ That’s more money than I have in the 
house, Mrs. Pining,” replied Fox Bushwell. “ I 
expect to get my insurance by to-morrow, and 
then I will pay you the forty-eight dollars. I 
can’t do it before. You mustn’t be hard upon 
me, after all I’ve lost.” 

“ Dyin’ world ! What’s goin’ to become on 
me, if I don’t go to meetin’ ? I feel jest like a 
heathen, now.” 

“ Wait a few days, and I’ll try ''to raise the 
money for you.” 

“ Lud’s sake ! That’s jest what you’ve been 
sa3dn’ ever sence the fire. Sufferin’ and dyin’ in 
sin and iniquity ! without nothin’ to wear, and 
no chance to go to meetin’ ! ” 

“ Prince, have you seen Longimore’s folks 
lately ? ” asked Fox Bushwell, as his ward en- 
tered the kitchen. 

“ I have seen them every day.” 

“How do they seem?” 

“ Better than they were.” 

“ I’m glad to hear it. I don’t like to do any- 
thing hard ; but I don’t see how I can help it,” 
whined the money-lender. 


802 


THE DOBCAS CLUB. 


“What are you going to do, uncle Fox?” 
asked Prince, his heart rising into his throat, as 
much with indignation as with fear. 

“ To-morrow it will be ten days since Longi- 
more went off ; and all that furniture will belong 
to me then.” 

“But you will not take it away from them — 
will you ? ” 

“ What on earth can I do ? I can’t afford to 
lose six hundred and twenty dollars. It ^would 
ruin me.” 

“ But you can afford to wait a few days,” 
pleaded Prince. 

“ What’s the use of waiting ? Longimore’s 
brother can’t do anything for his folks. The 
furniture will belong to me to-morrow ; and I 
think I know where I can sell it for enough to 
make me whole. Currier is going to house- 
keeping soon, and wanted to buy Captain Sea- 
board’s ; but when he saw it, he said it wasn’t 
good enough for him. I shall see him to-day; 
and if you go to Longimore’s house, I wish you 
would just ask his wife if she has any objection 
to my showing him the things this afternoon. 
If she has, I shall take him in to-morrow.” 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


£03 


“ I think you had better keep quiet for a few 
days, uncle Fox,” said Prince, choking down 
his indignation. 

“Keep quiet?” 

“ At least till you get your insurance. People 
are sorry for Mrs. Longimore and her children, 
whatever they think of her husband ; and if you 
should take her furniture away from her, it 
would excite the indignation of people against 
you.” 

“But I can’t afford to lose my customer,” said 
Fox Bushwell, evidently alarmed. 

“ If you do anything of this kind, the insur- 
ance people won’t pay you as long as they can 
help doing so.” 

“Currier has offered me seven hundred cash 
for that furniture, without seeing it. That 
includes the piano, of course. But I expect to 
get eight hundred.” 

“ And you mean to make nearly two hundred 
dollars out of Mr. Longimore’s misfortunes ? ” 
added Prince, his eyes flashing. 

“Of course I’m going to get as much as I 
can for it.” 

“ You won’t sell it, uncle Fox,” replied Prince, 
unable to contain himself any longer. 


304 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


“Do you think not, Prince?” 

“ I know you won’t. If no one else inter- 
feres, I will. I can stop it, I know.” 

“ Do you want to ruin me. Prince ? ” 

“ No sir ; and I don’t want you to ruin any 
one else. Your bill of sale is good for nothing.” 

“Good for nothing!” gasped the miser. 

No ; at least, I believe it is not, and a cer- 
tain lawyer says there is doubt enough about it 
to hang a lawsuit on.” 

“Good Heaven! What do you mean?” 
groaned Fox Bushwell. 

“ Most people believe Mr. Longimore is dead, 
and that he has been dead nine days. Your bill 
of sale is dated to-morrow, and of course he 
could not sign it ten days after he was dead.” 

“ Am I to lose my money ? ” whined the 
miser. 

“ I don’t know ; but the lawyers won’t let 
you take the furniture to-morrow. Mrs. Longi- 
more has taken legal advice, and feels safe for 
a while,” replied Prince, satisfied that he had 
carried his point. 

Fox Bushwell groaned in bitterness of spirit. 
He did not like lawyers. They were an expen- 


THE DOECAS CLUB. 


305 


sive luxury. He did not attempt to take the 
furniture on the tenth day, but after breakfast 
he did go to a legal gentleman with the note 
and bill of sale. As soon as he had gone, Mrs. 
Pining opened, as usual, in regard to her unpaid 
interest, which she certainly needed. 

“ I will lend you fifteen dollars,” said Prince, 
who had about this amount left of his two 
months’ allowance. 

“Sufferin’, dyin’ ! You, Prince?” 

He produced the money, and she promised 
to repay it as soon as her interest was received. 
She bustled about in great haste, and went to 
one of the neighbors to borrow garments enough 
in which to do her shopping. 

“ Lock the house, and put the key of the 
back door under the step, if you go out. Prince,” 
said she, as she left the house. 

Prince did lock the door, but he did not put 
the key under the step. He locked all the doors 
and fastened all the windows. Then he went 
down cellar, and removed the rubbish from the 
arch. The day before he had seen his uncle 
take a note from the package which was so like 
the bundle of bonds, and which had been put 
20 


306 


THE DOECAS CLUB. 


in the old secretary saved from the fire. That 
bundle of papers was not concealed in the cel- 
lar, at any rate. 

The mortar of the two bricks which Fox 
Bushwell had laid in the arch was not very 
hard, because the cellar was quite damp. With 
the trowel he succeeded in digging it all out 
of the interstices. With much labor, and no 
little skill, he removed the first brick, and then 
the second. Afraid that his uncle might re- 
turn, he thrust his arm into the aperture, and 
felt about for any article the cavity might con- 
tain. His hand touched something smooth and 
soft He drew it, forth. It was a package en- 
veloped in thin rubber cloth. With eager, tremb- 
ling hands he unfolded it, removing several 
newspaper wrappers after the covering of rubber 
cloth. At last he reached a package which was 
the counterpart of the bundle of valuable papers 
he had seen in the hands of his uncle. The 
label indicated that it contained bonds ; and a 
further examination convinced him that this was 
the package which Fox Bushwell had brought 
from the bank — by mistake. 

The precious old villain ! ” muttered Prince, 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


SOT 


as he rolled up the bundle again, just as he had 
found it; but he did not restore it to the hole 
in the chimney. 

Softening the mortar in the tub, he relaid the 
two bricks, and rubbed down the wall till it 
looked as it had before. Restoring the rubbish 
as his uncle had placed it, he left the cellar 
with the bonds in his pocket What should he 
do with them ? 


308 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


CHAPTER XVI. 

THE president’s LETTER. 

T O say that Prince Willingood was almost 
beside himself with joy, on the one hand, 
when he thought of the triumphant vindication 
of Mollie’s father, and with pity and detestation, 
on the other, when he thought of his uncle, is 
expressing his feelings only very mildly. He 
had not believed that Fox Bushwell was either 
wicked or brave enough to commit a great crime. 
The story of the brass kettle and the burning 
of whatever it contained, were mere inventions ; 
and now that the bonds were safe, he could not 
help asking the hard question, how it was that 
anything happened to be burned. If by one 
remarkable chance the bonds were in the cellar, 
and by another equally remarkable chance the 
house was burned while they were there, it was 
not likely that, when it appeared that the bonds 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


809 


were not there, the burning of the house was the 
simple result of a blind fate. 

Prince had his doubts, and they troubled him 
sorely; for, whatever else Fox Bush well might 
be, he was the young man’s uncle. Why had 
the old man taken so much pains on that, par- 
ticular evening to show the cashier that he kept 
his valuable papers in a brass kettle, concealed 
in the cellar wall? He could not resist the con- 
clusion, much as he desired to do so, that the 
house had been burned in order to cover the 
loss of the bonds. Of course he could not 
have anticipated the disappearance of the cashier 
on the morning after the fire ; but the evidence 
would have been just as* convincing to the 
directors as to Mr. Longimore. He took the 
bonds by mistake, as the presence of his own 
private papers at the bank would show ; he had 
put them where he usually kept his own most 
valuable documents ; and now they were de- 
stroyed. Turn it over in whatever way he might. 
Prince could not help believing that his uncle 
had intended to do a great wrong. 

Boy as he was, he had right views in regard 
to his duty. He had positively refused to take 


310 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


part in the concealment of Mr. Longimore’s pos- 
sible crime, and could he do less in regard to 
that of Fox Bush well? Badly as his uncle had 
treated him,, until driven by the fear of conse- 
quences to do better, the nephew was actuated 
by no spirit of revenge. He would gladly save 
his uncle from exposure and punishment ; but it 
must rest with the directors of the bank to pro- 
ceed as they thought best. Some of them were 
also stockholders and directors in the insurance 
company which refused to settle the money- 
lender’s claim for his loss. 

In the privacy of his chamber Prince removed 
the wrappers from the bundle he had taken from 
the hole in the chimney, and satisfied himself 
that it contained the bonds. He even counted 
the amount of them and found it corresponded 
with that of the lost package. And then again 
came the question, what should he do with 
them. He could not keep them in the house, 
and he dared not carry them down to the retreat 
of the exiled cashier, lest they should be lost 
by the upsetting of the boat, or some other 
accident, which, under other circumstances, he 
would not have regarded as even possible. The 



With eager, trembling Hands he unfolded it. Page 300 






THE DORCAS CLUB. 


311 


salvation of the^ cashier depended upon the 
restoration of the package to the bank ; and he 
could not risk a single chance of failure to do 
his whole duty. But, whatever was done, Mrs. 
Longimore and Mollie ought to have the good 
news at once — the good news which would 
restore to them the husband and father without 
the stain of crime. 

Prince wrapped up the bonds again just as he 
had found them in the hole in the chimney, and 
Avent out of the house at the back door. This 
time, when he had locked it, he put the key 
under the step. The package of bonds was in 
the breast pocket of his coat, and he kept one 
hand upon it every moment of the time he was 
in the street on his way to the cashier’s home. 
He was promptly admitted, as he always was. 
Mrs. Longimore and Mollie were more cheerful 
than they had been before for a fortnight, for 
the cashier was not dead, and there was a chance 
that his innocence might be proved. 

Prince’s eyes glowed when he entered the 
house, for he was intensely excited ; as who 
would not have been under such circumstances ? 
Mrs. Longimore at once concluded that he had 
fought the great battle with his uncle. 


312 


THE DOECAS CLUB. 


“You have done it, Prince^ I see by your 
looks,” said Mrs. Longimore. 

“ Done what ? ” asked he. 

“ Talked with your uncle. You have told 
him what you said you should.” 

“ No, I have not. I have not said a word to 
him, and I don’t intend to do so now.” 

“You said you should tell him squarely that 
he knew all about the bonds,” added the lady, 
perplexed and disappointed by his change of 
front. “ I am sure my husband has told you 
the truth.” 

“ I know he has,” replied Prince, warmly. 

“ And he depends upon you to help him prove 
his innocence.” 

“Not in vain has he depended upon me. I 
have done better than I could by talking with 
my uncle,” answered the young man, proudly. 

“ Why, what do you mean ? ” 

“ I have found the bonds.” 

“ Found them ! ” gasped Mrs. Longimore. 

“You don’t mean so. Prince ! ” exclaimed 
Mollie. 

“ But I do,” he added, taking them from his 
pocket, and tossing the bundle on the table. 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


313 


“ There they are — every bond, just as they 
came from the bank. Mr. Longimore can come 
back now as soon as he pleases.” 

“ Why, Prince ! ” cried Mollie, clasping her 
hands with delight. 

“ My dear boy, you have saved us all,” added 
the mother. 

“ I have done the best I could.” 

“Angels could no more,” said Mollie. 

“Did your uncle give you the package? Has 
he repented? Has he changed his mind?” asked 
Mrs. Longimore. 

“ He did not give them to me, and he has 
had no chance to repent or to change his mind. 
He knows nothing at all of what 1 have done, 
and doubtless believes the package is just where 
he left it,” replied Prince. “ It all looks like 
a plain case to you ; but I am sorely bothered. 
I don’t know what to do.” 

“It seems to me you have done everything 
already,” suggested Mrs. Longimore. 

“But there are two sides to this question. 
Your husband is one side, and my uncle is the 
other. The burden has been shifted from Mr. 
Longimore to Fox Bushwell,” Prince explained. 


314 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


“ If I don’t hand these bonds over to the banh, 
the directors will arrest your husband when he 
comes back ; if I do hand them over, they will 
arrest my uncle. I brought them here, because 
I want you to advise me what to do.” 

“I suppose there is only one way, and that 
is, to do right,” replied the cashier’s wife. 

“We don’t always know what is right.” 

“You have not told me where you got the 
bonds. Prince.” 

“ I will tell you all about it. On the night 
after the fire I heard a clicking noise down 
stairs. I went into the kitchen, and found my 
uncle was at work on the chimney in the cellar. 
I thought nothing of it then ; but after I had 
seen Mr. Longimore, I had some suspicions. 
This morning, when uncle Fox and Mrs. 
Pining were absent, I took out two bricks in 
the chimney, and found the bonds. That’s 
the whole story. I put this and that together, 
and found that two and two made four. That’s 
the reason I thought of seeing what ailed that 
chimney.” 

“ I wanted to ask you to search the house. 
Prince, for I did not think the mistake in the 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


315 


package, and the burning of the house, were 
two things that were likely to happen in the 
same night ; but I did not like to ask you to 
do so,” added Mrs. Longimore. 

“That was just my own thought. I am 
afraid the fire was not an accident. I heard 
uncle Fox tell, a year ago or more how a man 
set his barn on fire, and was ten miles away 
when the flames burst out. He fixed a candle 
in the hay, in such a way that it would burn 
two hours before the fire got down to the hay. 
I shouldn’t wonder if he set his own house on 
fire in the same way, for he was fast asleep 
when I called him.” 

“Perhaps he was.” 

“ I had hard work to wake him.” 

“ That was part of the play, it may be.” 

“I can easily believe it was. The insurance 
company have not paid the loss yet, and keep 
putting him off,” added Prince. “I think the 
officers suspect that something is wrong. But 
what are we to do with these bonds ? That’s 
the question now.” 

“I can advise only one thing. Prince,” said 
Mrs. Longimore. “ I should not be willing to 
have them over night in this house.” 


316 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


“ I should not in my uncle’s ; and I don’t 
like to carry them down to Mr. Longimore, for 
fear some accident might happen,” added Prince. 

“ Why not carry them to the bank ? ” asked 
Mollie, who could not see the necessity of doing 
anything short of what was exactly right. 

“I don’t want to make it any worse for my 
uncle than is necessary. If I had done what I 
felt, at first, that I ought to do, I should have 
informed Mr. Doane of what Simon Potter had 
told me. Then they would have arrested Mr. 
Longimore, and the bonds might never have 
been found. Of course the whole truth must 
come out ; but I wish to spare ancle Fox as 
much as possible without doing anything wrong. 
I will tell you what I will do : I will ask Mr. 
Doane to come over here ; we will tell him the 
whole story, and then do just as he says.” 

This proposition met with favor ; and Mrs. 
Longimore wrote a note to the president of the 
bank, which Mollie carried to him. Mr. Doane 
returned with her. 

“I suppose all the people at the bank believe 
that my husband took those bonds, Mr. Doane,” 
said Mrs. Longimore, when the president was 
seated. 


THE DOKCAS CLUB. 


317 


•‘We tried hard to believe that he did not. 
ITou know we always held him in the high- 
est respect and regard, and we are only sorry 
now that we had not raised his salary, and 
thus removed, in part at least, any tempta- 
tion for him to do anything wrong,” replied 
the president. “We never heard till since he 
left he was in debt or in trouble. If he had 
only asked for more salary, we should certainly 
have granted it. As it is, we feel a little to 
blame for not doing so.” 

“You are certainly very kind to make any 
allowance for him ; but I wish to say that my 
husband would not steal under any temptation,” 
added the wife. 

“I hope not.” 

“1 am sure of it,” continued Mrs. Longimore, 
taking the bundle of bonds from the table. 
“ Will you be kind enough to open that pack- 
age ? ” 

Mr. Doane removed the several coverings, and 
opened his eyes very wide when he came to the 
familiar wrapper, red tape, and label of the lost 
bonds. Though he did not say so, the sight of 
the package convinced him that the cashier 


318 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


could steal, and had stolen, them, either with or 
without the temptation of a burden of private 
debts. Finding them in the house of the absent 
official seemed to be evidence that he had stolen 
them. 

“ r am very glad indeed to recover these 
bonds,” said he, “ not only for the sake of the 
bank, but for Mr. Longimore’s sake. I assure 
you the people of the bank have no ill will 
towards your husband, madam ; and since the 
property has been restored, I think I can guar- 
antee that they will not prosecute him.” 

“ Mr. Longimore knows no more about those 
bonds than you did ten minutes ago, Mr. Doane,” 
interposed Prince, warmly, for he did not like 
the cool tone of the proceedings. “ He did not 
steal them, did not take them, did not hide 
them, did not do anything with them. He is 
as innocent as you are, sir.” 

“ I’m sure I hope he is,” protested the presi- 
dent. 

“ I know he is ! ” exclaimed the young man. 

“ I am glad you are so well informed, my 
young friend,” added Mr. Doane, with a smile 
at the earnestness of the speaker. “ If Mr. Lon- 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


319 


gimore had not— had not left, doubtless the 
affair would have presented a different aspeet. 
Perhaps you had better let Mrs. Longimore ex- 
plain the cireumstances under which the bonds 
came into her possession.” 

The president was a little dry, and rather 
sarcastic, in his manner towards Prince, who 
appeared to be meddling with what did not con- 
cern him. 

“ Prince brought them here just before I sent 
for you,” said Mrs. Longimore, promptly. 

“ Ah ! indeed ! ” added Mr. Doane, feeling now 
that the young man had a right to speak. 

Prince did speak. He said that Mr. Longi- 
more was alive, that he had told him just what 
had passed between himself and Fox Bushwell, 
and related in detail his own suspicions, and 
the manner in which he had taken the bonds 
from the hole in the chimney, within the hour 
in which he spoke. Of course Mr. Doane was 
interested. The story was plausible, and the 
bundle of bonds in his hands fully confirmed 
it. 

“I am sorry for your, uncle,” said the presi- 
dent. 


820 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


“So am I, sir; but I have told the whole 
truth, without regard to him or any one else,” 
replied Prince. 

“You are entitled to a great deal of credit 
for what you have done, and the directors will 
not forget that these bonds have been recovered 
through your agency. How guilty Mr. Bush- 
well was I cannot say. If he really made a mis- 
take, and took the wrong package from the bank 
by accident, and then was tempted to keep them, 
when the error was discovered, it is a little bet- 
ter than if he purposely took the bonds from the 
bank, as, I confess I am afraid he did. Either 
was bad enough.” 

“I didn’t think uncle Fox was villian enough 
to do such a thing,” added Prince. “ I had 
some trouble with him a while ago ; but that 
grew out of his meanness only. Now I wish 
you would tell me what to do, Mr. Doane.” 

“ I think you need do nothing. Prince. You 
have done enough. But this matter opens 
another. I am one of the directors of the in- 
surance company which took the risk on your 
uncle’s house. We generally settle losses at 
once. But we had some doubts in Mr. Bush- 


THE DOECAS CLtTB. 


321 


well’s case. We have not been able to get hold 
of the facts, for his statements do not exactly 
coincide with each other. I need not say that 
your account of the bonds makes the matter ten 
times worse for him.” 

“In a word, you believe that my uncle set 
fire to his own house to get the insurance,” added 
Prince. 

“ We have not said that we believed he did 
so. That would place it a little too strong. If 
the fire caught from his lamp, and he went to 
bed at half past ten, it would have broken out 
before midnight. We do not believe it was set 
on fire, for no one could have thrown a match 
into the heap of shavings, where the fire started, 
on that side of the house, for there was no cel- 
lar window there.” 

“ My uncle did not go to bed that night till after 
twelve,” added Prince, explaining the events con- 
nected with the fire. 

“ Then your uncle has not told us the truth, 
though the truth would have served his purpose 
better than a falsehood. If he had said the fire 
had broken out fifteen or twenty minutes aftei 
he left the cellar, we could have understood that 
21 


322 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


he was careless with his lamp. He insured the 
house only a short time before it was burned, 
though he never paid a dollar for insurance be- 
fore. There are other circumstances which make 
the case doubtful.” 

“ Since Prince told my husband’s story, I have 
felt sure that Mr. Bushwell set his house on fire 
to make it appear that the bonds were burned,” 
added Mrs. Longimore. “ At any rate, Mr. Lon- 
gimore believed they were burned, and this be- 
lief made him almost crazy.” 

“It was a terribly trying situation for him, 
especially after he had pledged all his furniture 
to enable him to pay the sum he had over- 
drawn, which he need not have done. He 
charged every dollar he took ; and if we had 
known the circumstances, we should have raised 
his salary, instead of censuring him. 

“ But I want to tell him that the bonds are 
safe,” said Prince. “ The poor man is in misery 
now, and this news will rejoice him. What 
shall I say to him from you ? ” asked the young 
man, anxiously. 

“ The directors will be in session this fore- 
noon. Come to the bank in half an hour, 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


323 


Prince, and I will tell you what to say to him. 
I hope and believe it will be a message you will 
delight to carry to him.” 

“ And what is to be done with my uncle ? ” 

“ I don’t know yet. The insurance people 
meet to-morrow, to settle your uncle’s and other 
losses. We intend to question Mr. Bushwell 
again ; and after what you have said I can do 
so more intelligently than before. On the whole, 
I think we had better not mention anything that 
has occurred. We will keep it all from the public, 
at least till to-morrow. You will not say any- 
thing to your uncle. Prince — not a word; but 
some one will keep an eye on him hereafter.” 

Mr. Doane left the house, and hastened to 
the bank, where he arrived just in season to 
preside at the meeting of the directors, at ten 
o’clock. He was hardly gone before Minnie 
Darling and Nellie Patterdale called. 

“ Is Prince Willingood here ? ” asked Minnie, 
when Mollie went to the door. 

“ He is,” she replied. 

“He is a pretty professor of the art of row- 
ing,” pouted Minnie. “It is after ten o’clock; 
the two new boats — the Lily and the Psyche 


324 


THE DOKCAS CLUB. 


— are already in the water, and we want our 
instructor.” 

“He has been very busy for us this morning. 
He is exceedingly kind to us ; and if he is late, 
I hope you will excuse him,” pleaded Mollie ; 
and there was a smile on her face, as sweet as 
it was unwonted of late. 

“ Then he is certainly excused,” added Nellie. 

“ But won’t you go with us, Mollie ? ” asked 
Minnie. “You are the leader of our boat, you 
know.” 

“ Perhaps I will go ; but I don’t know any- 
thing about rowing, you are aware.” 

“ Prince will show you all about it ; and I’m 
sure he never did a pleasanter duty in his life,” 
added Minnie, encouraged by the smile of her 
friend. “I hope you will go.” 

“ Come in, and I will ask mother.” 

“ Ah, Professor Willingood, have you for- 
gotten the duties of your office ? ” asked Min- 
nie, as they entered the room where Prince 
was. 

“I confess that I did forget them; but I was 
very busy about important business,” pleaded 
he. 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


325 


“You are forgiven, at Mollie’s request.” 

“ I’m afraid I can’t be with you this fore- 
noon, for I have to go to Northport.” 

“Indeed you must be with us, professor. We 
have four boats alloat, and we need you. Can’t 
you take all the boats to Northport with you ? ” 

“Perhaps I can.” 

“ And Mollie will go, too.” 

“Can I, mother?” asked she. 

“ Certainly you can. You need the air, for 
you have hardly been out of the house for a 
fortnight.” 

“ Then I shall go, by all means,” laughed 
Prince. 

“ I knew you would.” 

“You can bring a passenger back with you,” 
added the instructor of rowing, with a signifi- 
cant glance at Mrs. Longimore and her daugh- 
ter. 

“ Who ? Not that wild man with the conic 
section on his head ? ” 

“ No ; but if the passenger is ready to come, 
you shall see who it is,” replied Prince. “ Now, 
if you will, go down to the shop, and take 
your places in the boats, I will be there in a 


326 


THE DOKCAS CLUB. 


few moments ; or you can pull about till I get 
there.” 

The girls hastened away to the shore, rejoiced 
to have Mollie with them for the first time. 
Prince went to the bank ten minutes earlier 
than the time he had been requested to be 
there ; but the action in regard to the cashier 
had been taken, and Mr. Doane was writing a 
letter to him, which he handed to the messen- 
ger. 

“ Give this to Mr. Longimore, Prince,” said 
the president. ‘‘We have raised his salary five 
hundred dollars a year, so as to cover the last 
two years. We have invited him to return to 
his place at once.” 

“ That’s handsome, sir,” exclaimed Prince, 
as much rejoiced as though the hundred dollars 
of back pay was to go into his own pocket. 

“ More than this. Prince ; the bank has rec- 
ognized 5’our important services in recovering 
the bonds by a grant of five thousand dollars.” 

“ I object sir ! ” protested Prince. “ You must 
give the money to Mr. Longimore. I don’t want 
it ; I am rich ; 1 have an income of eighteen 
hundred a year. If you will only give it to the 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


327 


cashier to pay his debts, I shall be ten times as 
much obliged to you.” 

“Do you hear what this young fellow sa-ys ? ” 
laughed the president, turning to the directors. 

They did not hear ; but Mr. Doane explained. 
Prince argued, when they protested ; and by 
sheer begging at last he induced them to 
comply. 

“ Mr. Longimore can draw his back pay as 
soon as he returns,” added Mr. Doane. 

“ Suppose you put it all together in one 
check, and enclose it in this letter ? ” suggested 
Prince. 

The president complied ; and the letter, after 
the addition of a postscript and the check, was 
given to him. The messenger hastened with a 
light heart to join the boat-clubs. 


328 


THE DOBCAS CLUB. 


CHAPTER XVII. 


THE CLUBS PULL TO NORTHPORT. 

HEN Prince reached the pier in front of 



the boat-shop, four of the five clubs 


were seated in the boat, pulling about near the 
shore. Mollie had her place in the Dorcas, and 
had already made considerable progress in learn- 
ing her duty as leader, under the direction of 
Minnie, who was at the stroke oar. The two 
new boats could not be distinguished from the 
old ones, except by reading the name on the 
stern or bows. The weather Avas mild and pleas- 
ant, and there was hardly a ripple on the bay 
between the city and Turk Head. 

“ Dorcas ahoy ! ” shouted Prince. 

“ Won’t you go with us. Professor Willin- 
good?” asked Kitty Jones, mischievously, as the 
Lily Club pulled by the pier. 

“No, I thank you ; I must go in the Dorcas,” 
replied the instructor. 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


329 


“ Of course you must ! ” laughed Kitty. 
“ Where Mollie Longimore is, the professor 
must be.” 

“She hasn’t learned to row yet,” pleaded 
Prince. 

“ She is the leader of the Dorcas Club, and 
she need not learn,” added Jennie Waite. “ That’s 
only an excuse.” 

“ Well, it’s a good excuse,” replied Prince, 
as the Dorcas approached, and he took his place 
by the side of Mollie Longimore, in the stern- 
sheets. 

All the boats gathered together near the pier, 
to obtain their instructions. Before Prince 
could give them, each of the leaders in her boat 
produced a flag, and began to wave it vigor- 
ously above her head. This demonstration ap- 
peared to be intended to surprise the instructor, 
and of course he gallantly expressed his aston- 
ishment at this sudden display of the colors. 
Some of the girls thought that a boat without a 
flag was like a man without a country, and they 
had supplied the deficiency without mentioning 
the matter to Prince. The flags were very pretty, 
certainly. The ground of each was white silk, 


330 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


crossed diagonally, like the Russian man-of-war 
ensign, with another color, which in the Dorcas’s 
was red, in the Lily’s yellow, in the Undine’s 
blue, and in the Psyche’s green. Don John had 
placed a couple of small eye-bolts in the stern 
of each boat for the flag-staff. 

“ Professor Willingood, we greet you,” said 
Carrie West, in the Psyche. 

“ Thank you. If this demonstration was in- 
tended as a salute to me, I acknowledge the 
compliment,” replied Prince, removing his hat, 
bowing as gracefully as the occasion seemed to 
require. 

Of course we could not hoist the flag till 
the commodore came on board,” added Minnie. 

“ I shall not arrogate to myself so high-sound- 
ing a title as that ; but I suggest that you will 
need such a personage to regulate the move- 
ments of the fleet,” continued Prince. “ It gives 
me very great pleasure to be able to say that 
you row exceedingly well, and that you handle 
your boats very skilfully. There is a great vari- 
ety of movements which may be made by the 
fleet. With four boats, you may row in a sin- 
gle line, two abreast, or four abreast. This fore- 
noon we will confine our attention to these 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 331 

changes. If we had five boats we could do 
better.” 

“ I hope we shall have another boat soon,” 
said Kitty Jones, nervously, for she was full of 
excitement. 

“As we have but four, we will make the best 
of them,” replied Prince. “ Let us understand 
how to make the changes before we start. We 
will go off in a single line, in this order : Dor- 
cas, Lily, Undine, Psyche. At the word, ‘ By 
twos,’ the first and third boats will cease row- 
ing, the second boat will pull alongside the first, 
and the fourth alongside the third. Then the 
third and fourth will close up, and each boat 
that stops rowing will commence again as soon 
as the other boat is abreast of her.” 

“But we may not hear the order in the fourth 
boat,” suggested Carrie West. 

“ Then we will give the word by signal,” re- 
plied Prince, picking up the boat-hook, and 
fastening his handkerchief to the end of it. “I 
will raise the signal, and hold it upright till all 
the leaders are sure to see it ; then I will drop 
it twice to the left for the order of ‘ By twos.’ ” 

“That will be nice!” said Kate Bilder. 


882 


THE DOBCAS CLUB. 


“ All ready, then ; follow the Dorcas,” added 
Prince. 

The Dorcas led the way, and the boats were 
soon in a single line, headed towards the North- 
port shore. The girls pulled with remarkable 
precision, keeping the slow and measured stroke 
required of them. After the fleet had gone a 
little way. Prince elevated the signal, holding it 
up for a couple of minutes. It was seen, for all 
the leaders were on the lookout for it ; but none 
of the rowers could see it, of course, as they 
sat back to it. Dropping it twice to the left, 
the first and third boats lay upon their oars, and 
the second and fourth pulled to the left, as di- 
rected, till the four were in pairs, and all gave 
way again. It was pretty well done, for the 
first attempt. It was repeated several times, till 
the instructor was satisfied, and then the four 
clubs were called together for another “ pow- 
wow.” 

“ We need some more signals,” said Prince. 
“ When I wave this flag in a circle around my 
head,” — and he suited the action to the word, 
— “you will all come together, as we are now. 
When I drop it once to the left, it means ‘ sin- 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


333 


gle line ; ’ when I drop it four times, alternately 
to the left and right, it means ‘by fours.’ To 
change from twos to fours, the Psyche will go 
to the left of the Lily, and the Undine to the 
right ’ of the Dorcas, the two boats in the front 
line lying on their oars till the other two come 
alongside.” 

The instructor repeated his explanation till all 
the leaders understood it, and then the boats 
went off in single line. The signal by twos ” 
was then given, and the movement very well 
executed. While in this order, the signal was 
elevated and dropped four times. The leaders 
of the Dorcas and the Lily gave the order for 
the rowers to lie on their oars, while those of 
the Undine and the Psyche steered their boats 
towards the positions assigned to them. Unfor- 
tunately, the rear boats were too near the front 
rank, and could not turn short enough to clear 
the head boats. Prince gave the signal to come 
together, upon this failure, and instructed the 
rowers of the Dorcas and Lily not to stop, but 
to pull slowly, while those in the Undine and 
Psyche were to pull rapidly. The experiment 
was repeated, and was a success. The girls were 


334 


THE DOKCAS CLUB. 


delighted with the result, which was improved 
by practice. 

To pass from “fours” to “twos,” and from 
“ twos ” to a single line, the orders were re- 
versed. These manoeuvres were executed several 
times, and the fair rowists were intensely inter- 
ested in them, so much so that they gave their 
whole attention, which is required in order to 
do anything well. Mollie Longimore was an 
apt scholar under the tuition of Prince, and 
before the fleet reached the Northport shore she 
was able to give all the orders. As the boats 
approached the mouth of Little River, the in- 
structor gave the signal for “single line,” and 
the Dorcas led the way into the inlet. 

“Way enough ! ” said Mollie, prompted by 
Prince. 

The oars were tossed and boated as required. 
The rest of the fleet came into the little bay, 
but kept well off the shore. 

“Now, if you will excuse Mollie, and me for 
half an hour, we will attend to the matter 
which brought us here,” said Prince, as he 
swung the Dorcas around till her stern-sheet 
were abreast a flat rock. “You can row till 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


335 


we return ; and I will liail you when we are 
ready to go back to the city.” 

“ But we want Mollie to act as leader,” replied 
Minnie. 

“You should learn to pull without any one 
to steer,” laughed Prince ; “ and this will l3e a 
good time for you to make a beginning. When 
there is no coxswain in the boat, she is under 
the command of the one at the stroke oar.” 

“We will try it,” added Minnie, though she 
could not help wondering why Prince wanted 
Mollie to go on shore with him. 

Prince assisted the leader to the rock, and 
they walked aivay from the shore together. The 
boats pulled out of the cove, and the crew of 
the Dorcas proceeded to experiment in rowing 
without the use of the rudder. Mollie was not 
less astonished than her friends had been at the 
invitation to land, though she surmised the 
meaning of it. 

“Where are we going. Prince?” she asked. 

“To see your father,” he replied, “and to 
take him back to the city. He is the passenger 
of whom I spoke.” 

“Are you sure it is safe for him to return?” 
added MoUie, with emotion. 


336 


THE DOECAS CLUB. 


“It is quite safe. He can take his place in 
the bank again to-day, if he chooses.” 

Prince led the way to the house of Simon 
Potter ; but that vigilant sentinel presented him- 
self before them, to intercept their progress, 
when they had accomplished but half the dis- 
tance. 

“ It is all right, Simon Potter,” said Prince. 
“ This is Mr. Longimore’s daughter, and he 
will be glad enough to see her.” 

“But — ” 

“No butting is necessary. I want the cashier 
to go back with me, and take his place in the 
bank,” interposed the enthusiastic messenger. 

“ This is some trick,” suggested Simon Pot- 
ter. 

“No it isn’t.” 

“You ain’t nothin’ but a boy, and ’taint very 
diffikilt to cheat one like you.” 

“In one word then, the bonds have come to 
light, and I have a letter from the president of 
the bank to Mr. Longimore. I know it’s all 
right.” 

“I’m glad on’t.” 

“ Let us see the cashier as quick as you can.” 


THE DOEOAS CLUB. 


33T 


Simon Potter led the way to the little barn 
adjoining his house. It contained a cow-stable, 
and a mow, which had, perhaps a ton of hay 
on it. But the cashier did not appear to be 
within the building. 

“ Mr. Longimore I ” said the strange man. 

“Where is he?” asked Prince, his curiosity 
somewhat excited. 

“ He ain’t fur off,” replied Simon Potter, 
repeating the cashier’s name twice more. 

When he had pronounced it the third time, 
there was a movement in the hay in the mow, 
and Mr. Longimore crawled out from the mass, 
apparently from under the weight of the whole 
of it. 

“ Mollie ! my daughter ! ” exclaimed he, fold- 
ing her in his arms, while the tears coursed 
down his pale, sunken cheeks. 

“ O, father ! I’m so glad to see you again ! ” 
and she wept with him. 

For some time they remained weeping and 
sobbing in each other’s embrace. The cashier 
trembled with emotion, for he had not expected 
to see his daughter so soon, and in that place. 

“ I don’t exactly see how he could live under 


338 


THE DOECAS CLUB. 


all that hay,” said Prince, leaving the father and 
daughter to themselves for a time. 

“ You needn’t tell nobody on’t,” replied 
Simon Potter. “ I made that place for myself ; 
but I never happened to want it for nothin’. 
Folks don’t bother me much.” 

The strange man took the fork and removed 
a portion of the loose hay on the edge of the 
mow, and a hole appeared. To satisfy himself. 
Prince crawled into it and found quite an apart- 
ment there. It had been made by laying the 
hay on each side of it, and then placing some 
rails across it, on which more hay had been 
piled up, till the sticks were entirely concealed. 
Light and air could be obtained at the rear of 
the den, at the pleasure of the occupant. Prince 
thought it was a nice place. 

It was said that when people called to see 
Simon Potter, he could seldom be found, either 
within his house or on his farm. Sometimes, if 
the visitor called out his business aloud, the 
strange man would mysteriously make his ap- 
pearance, though a moment before nothing could 
be found of him. The young man concluded 
that he often hid himself in this den to avoid 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


339 


meeting visitors. And I wish to add that this 
incident is not “made out of whole cloth,” for 
such a person actually existed not far from the 
locality indicated. 

“Why are you here, MollLe?” asked Mr. 
Longimore, choking with emotion, when Prince 
crawled out of the den. 

“ I brought her here, sir ; and you need not 
give yourself another moment of uneasiness.” 

“ Hadn’t you better go into the house ? ” 
suggested Simon Potter, leading the way. 

“Does any one know that she came here — 
any one but her mother?” asked the cashier, 
when they were seated. 

“Yes; twenty girls know it; but it makes 
no difference,” answered Prince. “You are to 
return to the city with Mollie, and take your 
place in the bank again, at once.” 

“You cannot mean that. Prince ! ” added Mr. 
Longimore, with a rather vacant expression. 

“ Don’t keep him in suspense a single moment. 
Prince,” pleaded Mollie. 

“ I will not. — The bonds were not burned, 
and they are safe in the bank vault at this 
moment, added Prince.” 


340 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


“Not burned ! In the vault ! ” 

“ Precisely so, sir. I am sorry to say that my 
uncle is a bigger villain than I ever supposed 
him to be. To make a short story of it, though 
nothing is to be said about it in public just yet, 
uncle Fox must have taken the bonds from the 
bank on purpose.” 

“I have thought of that,” interposed the 
cashier. “ In my dungeon under the hay I could 
do nothing but think ; and every incident of 
that eventful night has passed through my mind 
a hundred times. Why your uncle wished to 
show me, on that particular evening, where he 
kept his valuable papers, has often been a 
question with me. Mr. Bushwell has often been 
in the bank with me, after it wa-s closed to the 
public, when he wished me to do some business 
for him. I had the impression very strong on 
my mind that I put the bonds back into the 
tin case. When I left him to get the blank 
checks he wanted, he must have changed the 
packages.” 

“ The bonds were not burned. What you 
said to me the other night gave me an idea, 
vhich enabled me to look in the right place 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


341 


for them,” added Prince, proceeding to tell the 
story of the hole in the chimney, in detail. 

“ I am sorry for your uncle. He set his house 
on fire to make it appear that the bonds were 
burned. How weak I was to flee, when, if I 
had remained, the truth might have been dis' 
covered earlier!” 

“Perhaps not: we don’t know,” said Prince. 
“ Uncle Fox, as it was, believed that no living 
being but himself knew anything about the 
bonds. If you had not left, and if people had 
not thought you were dead, he might have 
watched them better. But it’s no use to talk 
about it now. Not a word is to be said to any 
one about the bonds.” 

“ I shall not speak of them,” replied the cash- 
ier ; “ though I shall be glad when the whole 
truth is known to everybody.” 

“ Here is a letter for you, Mr. Longimore,” 
added Prince, handing him the missive. “ There 
is no bad news in it, or anything else that is 
bad.” 

With trembling hands the cashier tore open 
the envelope. The check dropped upon the floor 
as he did so, and Mollie picked it up. 


342 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


“ The directors are very kind to me ; more so 
than I deserve,” said the cashier, with tears in 
his eyes. ‘‘ They invite me to return to my 
place without any delay. They have raised my 
salary, and made me a present of fifteen hun- 
dred dollars.” 

“We shall he happy again, father ! ” sobbed 
Mollie. “ I knew you could not do anything 
wrong.” 

“ But I have done wrong, my child. It was 
weak and cowardly for me to run away when 
the shadow of peril darkened my path; but I 
was beside myself; I lost my wits. The bonds 
were gone, and I was crazy.” 

“It is all right now, Mr. Longimore,” inter- 
posed Prince. “We will not think any more 
about it. How did you get away without being 
seen by any one ? ” 

“ It was very early in the morning, and I saw 
no one stirring,” replied the cashier. “ I had 
no thought but of ending my life ; and I took a 
boat at one of the wharves. I rowed out into 
the bay, intending to find rest from my anguish 
in a grave at the bottom of the deep waters of 
the bay. I thought only of my wife and child- 



Mollie ! MY Daughter ! ” exclaimed he, folding her in his Arms. Page 337 







THE DORCAS CLUB. 


343 


ren. I could not bear to think of going hence 
without a word to them. I wanted to tell them 
I was innocent of any crime. I felt that I could 
die in peace, if I could only tell them the truth. 
I pulled along the shore, and came to Simon 
Potter’s house. He was the good Samaritan to 
me : he saved me.” 

The cashier grasped the hand of the strange 
man, who looked as solemn as an owl all the 
while, unwilling to admit, even by a smile, that 
he had anything like feeling in his composition. 

“But where is the boat?” asked Prince. 

“ Taiii’t fur off. I took care on’t,” answered 
Simon Potter. 

“ 1 didn’t mean to steal that boat, any more 
than I did the bonds,” said the cashier. 

“ The boat’s out of sight, under water ; but 
she shall be returned in good order,” added the 
recluse. I sunk her to keep her from tollin’ 
any tales out o’school. I’ll git her up at low 
tide to-day.” 

“ Glad as I am to go home, Simon Potter, I 
don’t like to leave you here,” continued Mr. 
Longimore, taking the unwilling hand of his 
host again. “You have been more than a 
brother to me.” 


344 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


“No, I hain't. When folks turned agin you, 
and hunted you down, and every man’s finger 
was turned onto you, I had a feller-feelin’ for 
you. Besides you never laughed at me. 

“ I don’t like to leave you here alone, Simon 
Potter. Make my house your home. You shall 
he cherished and cared for in sickness and 
health,” continued Mr. Longimore. 

“ No ; I shall stay here’s long’s as I stay any- 
where. I don’t want to see nohod}^ nor nothin’, 
unless it’s a feller critter cast out and trod 
under foot of other men. Then I’m willin’ to 
do sumthin’ fur him. Good by, Mr. Longi- 
more,” 

Simon Potter shook hands with the cashier ; 
but when Mollie, expressing her thanks, at- 
tempted to do so, he dodged her; and the little 
party withdrew. 

“He has a good heart, and it’s a pity he 
should be so odd,” said the cashier, as they 
walked down to the mouth of the river. “ But 
I suppose he is happier here all alone than he 
would be any where else.” 

On the shore. Prince hailed the fleet, and, in 
a single line, the boats came into the cove, 
bringing their stems up to the flat rock. 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 345 

“ Why, Mr. Longimore ! ” exclaimed Minnie 
Darling, who was the first to recognize him. 

“ Mr. Longimore ! ” cried a dozen others. 

“ He is your passenger, Minnie ; for he will 
wish to go in the boat with Mollie,” said 
Prince. 

“ But where has he been ? ” demanded Nellie. 
“We thought he was dead.” 

“He has been down here for a few days, 
taking the country air,” laughed Prince. “ He 
is not dead, and he will return to the bank at 
once. I want to assure you that all the direc- 
tors believe him to be an honest upright and 
true man — as everybody will believe, when the 
whole truth comes out. Back out, Dorcas, and 
come about. Mollie, you can give the signals.” 

Mr. Longimore was already seated in the 
Dorcas, and she was hauled out from the shore. 
Mollie gave the orders, which set the rowers at 
work, very much to the astonishment of her 
father. 

“I will take a seat in the Undine, if you 
please,” said Prince. 

“ You are welcome. Professor Wilhngood,” 
replied Susie Thaxter. 


346 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


In a few moments all the boats were in line, 
the Dorcas leading the way. The rowing was 
simply beautiful, the movements of the fair 
rowists being grace itself. Presently Mollie 
elevated the signal, and with two motions to 
the left, brought the boats into pairs ; and the 
order was kept in the most perfect manner. 
Again the signal “by fours” was given, and 
the four boats moved on abreast of each other. 
People ran to the shore to look at the pretty 
sight ; and the praise bestowed upon the fair 
rowists was as hearty as it was general. 

As the fleet approached the landing place, 
the signal “ by twos ” was given, and then “ in 
single line.” One by one the boats came in, 
and the members of the club all went on shore. 

Attended by Mollie and Prince, Mr. Longi- 
more hastened to his house, where the cashier 
pressed his wife and little ones to his heart, the 
great tears all the while streaming down his 
furrowed cheeks. From his house he went to 
the bank, where he was cordially greeted by all 
the directors, who had been waiting his arrival. 
The bonds were in the vault, and he was treated 
more like a general returning in triumph from 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


347 


the conquest, than one who had fled in dismay 
and terror from his post of duty. He told his 
story over again, but it did not vary from that 
related by Prince. He drew the check presented 
to him by the directors ; and when told what 
the Dorcas Society had done for his family, he 
hastened to return the two hundred dollars, 
loaned to his wife, to Nellie Patterdale, the 
treasurer. The result of this payment was, that 
Don John at once received an order to build 
another boat for the Dorcas Club, so that all 
our girls could be afloat at the same time. 

Mr. Longimore paid the note he had given 
Fox Bushwell, a few days later, and Prince 
returned him the bill of sale. Simon Potter 
sent the boat in w^hich the cashier had escaped 
back to the city, to the great satisfaction of the 


owner. 


348 


THE DOKCAS CLUB. 


CHAPTER XVIII. 

THE TEUTH WH^L COME OUT. 

O N the day Mr. Longimore returned from 
his exile in the Northport woods, Fox 
Bushwell went to a town twelve miles from the 
city, to look after a delinquent debtor, who had 
failed to pay his interest. He carried the note 
and mortgage in his pocket, intending to take 
possession of the property if the money was not 
paid. The debtor had promised to pay the in- 
terest in the city when it was due ; and it was 
now a week after the time. Fox Bushwell was 
an earnest advocate of the pleasures and bene- 
fits of pedestrianism. No livery stable keeper, 
no hack driver, no stage proprietor could draw 
a dollar from his pocket for a ride — walking 
was more healthy and agreeable. It was de- 
lightful, in the spring time, to tramp over the 
country roads, inhaling the freshness of the pure 


THE DOECAS CLUB. 


349 


air, and gazing upon the beauties of Nature. It 
cost nothing. 

The money-lender went on foot to the town 
twelve miles distant, and found his debtor sick 
abed; but he had the money in the house to 
pay his interest, and he paid it. The creditor 
made nothing by his journey but his dinner. 
The debtor would have sent his son to drive 
him back to the city, but the horse was lame. 

Fox Bushwell was very tired when he reached 
his destination, and in no condition to expatiate 
upon the delights of pedestrianism, especially in 
its application to an elderly man who starved 
himself on herring, salt fish, and baked beans. 
He rested till the middle of the afternoon, and 
then walked home. Twenty-four miles in one 
day was too much for him ; and, besides the 
weariness of the delightful tramp, he had taken 
a severe cold, by overheating himself, and then 
sitting down in a cold, damp place by the road- 
side. Fie was utterly exhausted when he reached 
his house, late in the evening. In the night he 
was sick, and Mrs. Pining was kept up half the 
night with him. Prince wanted to call in a 
doctor ; but this was a piece of extravagance to 
which the money-lender would not submit. 


850 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


“ Doctors don’t do no good in this sufferin’, 
dyin’ world, and cost heaps of money,” moaned 
the widow. “ I guess I can git him into a 
sweat, and then he’ll feel better.” 

Mrs. Pining did succeed in starting a perspir- 
ation on the shrivelled skin of her patient, and 
he went to sleep. In the morning he was bet- 
ter, but in a very feeble condition. The insur- 
ance business was to be settled that day ; and 
when the old man spoke of going to the office 
of the company, the housekeeper protested. 

“ Sufferin’ you be, and dyin’ you want to be, 
if you think of goin’ out arter such a sweat as 
I gin you last night,” said Mrs. Pining. 

“ I don’t feel able to go, but I must. I want 
to git that insurance, so I can pay you,” whined 
the money-lender. 

The widow thought it was quite proper to 
get the insurance, and pay her; so, having pro- 
tested in due form, she offered no further oppo- 
sition to the will of her employer. Fox Bush- 
well went to the insurance office ; he walked 
with a slow step and painful, leaning heavily on 
his cane. When he arrived at his destination 
he was very much astonished to see so many 


THE DOKCAS CLUB. 


351 


people in the room, for his late return from his 
pedestrian tour had prevented him from hear- 
ing any of the current news of the day. No- 
body ever went to the miser’s house except on 
business ; and even Mrs. Pining had not heard 
of the return of the cashier. Though Prince 
knew all about it, he did not care to tell the 
news at home ; and thus it fell out that Fox 
Bushwell, in giving himself up to the enjoyment 
of his long walk, with the pure air and the 
beauties of Nature, failed to be in possession of 
a piece of intelligence which might have changed 
his whole course of action. In a word, he did 
not know that Mr. Longimore had come back 
and resumed his place in the bank ; if he had 
known it, doubtless his answers to the questions 
put to him by Mr. Doane would have been en- 
tirely different, and, possibly, utterly inconsistent 
with what he had before declared to be the 
truth. 

“ I am sick this morning, Mr. Doane,” moaned 
the money-lender, as he entered the well-filled 
room. “ I had a bad turn last night, and I’m 
not fit to be here to-day. It is high time that 
insurance money was paid.’’ 


352 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


“ Take a chair, Mr. Bush well. I have no 
doubt we shall be able to settle the matter in 
some way, this time,” replied Mr. Doane. 

“ I suppose you mean to pay me the money 
— don’t you? I can’t afford to lose it. I’m a 
poor man, and the loss comes hard on me.” 

“ I wish to ask you some questions, Mr, Bush- 
well,” added the president of the bank, who 
held the same office in the insurance company. 

‘‘I think you have asked me about questions 
enough,” groaned Fox Bushwell. 

‘‘ It does not look like a clear case yet,” con- 
tinued Mr. Doane. “ Did you see Mr. Longi- 
more on the evening before your house was 
burned ? ” 

“ I did. I told you that before. I’ve said so 
twenty times,” answered the money-lender, petu- 
lantly. “'I lent him some money, and — ” 

Very well,” interposed the president. “After 
you had finished the business connected with 
the loan, what occurred that evening?” 

“ Nothing, that I know of.” 

“Did Mr. Longimore leave your house as 
soon as the papers were signed and witnessed ? ” 

“ Why yes ; of course he did. He didn’t stay 
there all night,” whined the miser. 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 353 

“ Did you go down cellar after the business 
was finished ? ” 

“ I did. I’ve said so twenty times.” 

“ Did Mr. Longimore go down cellar with 
you ? ” 

Fox Bush well was startled, and the cold sweat 
stood on his forehead. It might have been 
weakness ; it might have been something else. 
Why did Mr. Doane ask that question, which 
he had not put before ? 

“ Did Mr. Longimore go down cellar with 
me ? ” he repeated. 

“That’s the question I asked. Will you be 
kind enough to answer it ? ” 

“ What should he go down cellar with me 
for ? ” 

“ That does not answer my question.” 

“ Of course he didn’t go down cellar with 
me,” replied Fox Bush well, desperately. 

“ He did not ? ” 

“I say he did not. What business — ” 

“ Never mind the reasons, Mr: Bushwell. All 
we want is the facts. Mr. Longimore did not 
go into the cellar with you ? ” 

“No, he did not. You talk to me just as 

23 


854 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


you thought I was lying. Let me remind you 
that I’m a clergyman.” 

Fox Bushwell tried to stand upon his dig- 
nity ; but just then he had none to stand 
upon. 

“ Where did you keep your valuable papers 
when you lived in the house that was burned, 
Mr. Bushwell?” asked the president. 

“ In my secretary most of them,” replied the 
old man, wondering why that question was 
asked. 

“ Did you keep any of them in your cellar ? ” 
said Mr. Doane, sharply. 

“Well, yes; I kept some of them in the cel- 
lar,” stammered the money-lender. 

“In a brass kettle, hidden in the wall — did 
you not ? ” 

“ Some of them,” gasped Fox Bushwell ; and 
it was plain enough to him, by this time, that 
somebody had been prying into his affairs. 

“Did you show Mr. Lon^imore where you 
kept the papers ? ” 

“ No, I didn’t. I didn’t show anybody where 
I kept them.” 

“Very well, Mr. Bushwell; that will do on 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


365 


that point,” added the president. “ What time 
did yon go to bed on the night of the fire ? ” 

‘‘About half past ten, as I told you.” 

“ Wasn’t it later than that ? ” 

“ No ; I don’t think it was.” 

“ Wasn’t it twelve ? ” 

“No; nor eleven.” 

“Very well, Mr. Bushwell. Now, when you 
saw Mr. Longimore that morning after the fire, 
did he say anything about the bonds that were 
lost ? ” 

“What has that to do with my insurance?” 

“ I think a connection between the fire and 
the bonds can be shown. I will thank you to 
answer the question.” 

“ I’ve told you twenty times what passed 
between Mr. Longimore and me. I haven’t 
anything different to say. I’m a clergyman, and 
I think what I say ought to be believed,” 
moaned the money-lender. 

“Do you say that Mr. Longimore did not 
mention the bonds to you ? ” 

“ I do say so. ” 

“I hope you will consider the matter well, 
Mr. Bushwell,” added the president. “You 


356 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


may be called upon to testify in court on this 
subject.” 

“ I’m a clergyman, and my word ought to be 
as good as my oath.” 

“ It ought to be ; but it is not. I know you 
were a clergyman once ; but you are not an 
honor to the cloth ; and it was well for the 
profession that you left it,” said Mr. Doane, 
severely. 

“I’m a poor sick man and I don’t think it’s 
right for you to insult me.” 

“ Though you do not speak the truth, Mr. 
Bushwell, I purpose to do so. The insurance 
company will formally refuse to pay your claim 
for loss.” 

“Refuse to pay !” gasped Fox Bushwell; and 
to him this was certainly “ the most unkindest 
cut of all.” “ I didn’t think that of you. I 
paid the premium, and now you want to cheat 
me out of my money.” 

“ You cheated yourself out of it,” replied Mr. 
Doane. 

“I’m a poor man, and I can’t afford to bear 
this loss.” groaned Fox Bushwell, rising slowly 
from his arm-chair, under the excitement of the 
unexpected decision against him. 


THE DORCAS CI.UB. 357 

“ Mr. Bushwell, the directors are satisfied that 
yon set your liouse on fire yourself.” 

“I ! Why, Mr. Doane ! How could you think 
such a thing of me — of me, a clergyman?” 

“I will state the facts to 5^011, as we under- 
stand them ; and “then, if ^^ou wish for the evi- 
dence, you shall have it,” continued the presi- 
dent. “ After Mr. Longimore had given you 
your package of private papers in the bank, you 
exchanged it for the bundle of bonds. In the 
cellar of your house, you took pains to show 
the cashier where you kept your valuable papers, 
and placed the package, which he supposed to 
be your own papers, — but which you knew to 
be the bonds, — in that brass kettle. After the 
fire, you visited the cellar, and satisfied him that 
your papers had all been burned. Very early 
in the morning the cashier found your private 
papers in the bank, and it appeared to him then 
that the bonds had been destroyed, instead of 
the bundle belonging to you. He went to you, 
and demanded the bonds at daylight ; and you 
satisfied him that they had been burned. In an 
agony of grief and terror, Mr. Longimore fled. 
This is the truth.” 


358 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


“Not one word of it is ture!” cried Fox 
Bushwell, trembling in every fibre of his frame. 
“ I haven’t seen the bonds. I don’t know any- 
thing about them.” 

“You want the proof, and you shall have it,” 
replied Mr. Doane. “ Send for Mr. Longi- 
more ! ” 

“ Mr. Longimore ! ” gasped the money-lender, 
sinking back into his chair. 

But he realized that he was losing his own 
c{ise by his emotion, and he struggled to re- 
cover his self-possession. 

“ The cashier stole the bonds ! He has made 
up this story to clear himself,” groaned the 
wretch. 

Fox Bushwell was utterly confounded, for the 
moment, when he saw the cashier enter the 
room. Mr. Longimore told his story precisely 
as the president had related it. 

“He stole the bonds himself!” howled the 
money-lender. “ He owes me money, and he 
wants to ruin me. Didn’t he run away ? Don’t 
that prove it? Will you take his word against 
a clergyman’s ? ” 

“ Mr. Bushwell, if you put the bonds into 



Mr. Longimore ! ” gasped the Money-lender. Page 358. 





THE DORCAS CLUB. 


359 


that brass kettle in your cellar, we are under 
obligations to you for removing them before you 
set the house on fire,” continued the president-. 
“ By this act of forethought on your part they 
were saved from the fire. Here they are.” 

Mr. Doane tossed the package on the long 
table in front of the money-lender. If Fox 
Bushwell was confounded before, he was over- 
whelmed now. He was a pitiable spectacle as 
he reclined in the arm-chair, shaking like one 
affected with palsy, and groaning like one in 
the agonies of a violent distemper. His malady 
was Sin, finding him out ; but it was aggravated 
by the illness under which he was suffering. No 
one spoke for a long time ; and after a while 
the sufferer recovered in a measure. 

“ This bundle of bonds was found in the house 
where you are living now, concealed in the arch, 
under the chimney, where you had walled them 
into the brick-work. This fact completes the 
evidence. It is all that is necessary to prove 
the case, though more can be produced,” said 
the president. 

Fox Bushwell fainted away then, exhausted 
by the excitement in his feeble condition. He 


260 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


did not ask who had found the bonds, and the 
president was considerate enough not to men- 
tion the name of Prince. The money-lender 
realized that the evidence was complete. There 
was nothing on which he could hang a single 
hope ; and with the conviction of the truth came 
the loss of his senses. Dr. Darling, who was 
one of the directors, hastened to his assistance ; 
and when he was partially restored he was con- 
veyed in a carriage to his home. 

“Sufferin’, dyin’ world!” groaned Mrs. Pin- 
ing, Avhen the old man was brought into the 
house. “ I knowed jest how ’twould be ! I 
warned him ; but he wouldn’t hear to nothin’ I 
said. We are all lost creeturs!” 

Prince assisted at the bedside of his uncle, and 
did all he could to assuage his moral and physi- 
cal sufferings ; but the patient grew worse every 
hour. His sickness saved him from arrest as an 
incendiary the next day; but Fox Bushwell was 
in the wild delirium of a fever, and knew nothing 
about the visit of the sheriff to his house. Dr. 
Darling came to him twice or three times every 
day. Prince and Mrs. Pining divided the days 
and nights between them, at his bedside. 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


361 


In a week the end came, and the miser passed 
away, bereft of his reason, and unable to take 
leave of the money-bags for Avhich he had sold 
his manhood, his honor, his own soul. Not many 
followed him to the grave, for he had no rela- 
tives, and his life had shut him out from the 
friendships of this world. 

Prince was more shocked than grieved at the 
death of his uncle. His cheerless home was 
more gloomy than ever, for the memory of evil 
deeds seemed to hang heavy about it. On the 
evening after the funeral he called upon the 
Longimores. They did not attempt to console 
him, but they spoke not unkindly of the dead. 

“ This event will make a great change in 
your way of life. Prince,” said the cashier. 
“ At your age, you can nominate your own 
guardian, and if he is a proper person, the 
court will appoint him. I was thinking of the 
matter, and I was going to suggest the name 
of—” 

“ I am much obliged to you for thinking of 
me, Mr. Longimore,” interposed Prince ; “ but 
I have my mind about made up.” 

“ O, you have ! Well, of course I don’t 


362 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


wish to influence you ; but I was going to 
mention the name of Mr. Doane,” added Mr. 
Longimore. 

“I should like to live in the family of my 
guardian, if he suits me ; and Mr. Doane is a 
rich man ; he would not want me as a boarder.” 

“You can board where you please.” 

“ If I can, I should prefer to board with you ; 
and, to make the matter easier, I intend to 
name you as my guardian.” 

“ Indeed ! I’m sure I never thought of that,” 
replied Mr. Longimore. “ I owe my very life 
and reputation to you. Prince, as well as the 
happiness of my family ; and I assure you I 
shall do all I can to serve you. I only desire 
that you may grow up a true and useful man, 
that your aims and impulses may always be as 
high as they are now.” 

Nothing more was said about the matter at 
that time ; but at the next session of the Pro- 
bate Court, the cashier was nominated and 
appointed the guardian of Prince. He was after- 
wards appointed administrator of the estate of 
Fox Bushwell, of which the nephew was the 
sole heir, so that it was not necessary to sepa- 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 363 

rate the two estates, which it was found, would 
have been a very difficult job. 

To the great astonishment of the cashier, he 
found that he had the care of about a hundred 
thousand dollars all of which was invested at 
high rates of interest. 

“ Prince you can afford to live at the best 
hotel in the city ; and I should feel justified in 
paying your board there,” said the guardian. 

“ If you will let me board in your family, I 
shall be better satisfied,” replied the ward. 

“ I shall be very glad to have you in my 
family.” 

This matter was settled, and the young man 
was provided with a nice room. The liberality 
of his new guardian enabled him to stock it 
with all the books he wanted ; and Prince was 
happier than he would have been at a first-class 
hotel. Mollie Longimore went back to the High 
School ; and those pleasant walks to and from 
the temple of learning were resumed, apparently 
as much to the satisfaction of the one as the 
other. 

Mrs. Pining staid at Fox Bushwell’s house 
till all these arrangements had been completed ; 


364 


THE DOECAS CLUB. 


then the house was let and the furniture sold. 
The old lady had been very much troubled by 
her relations to the estate of her late employer. 

“ 1 hain’t got no note nor nothin’ in this 
sufferin’, dyin’ world, to show that Fox Bush- 
well owed me a cent ! ” said she, on the day 
after the administrator was appointed. 

“You shall be paid, with interest, Mrs. Pining, 
if I have to pay you myself after I am of age,” 
replied Prince. But I am sure Mr. Longimore 
will do everything that is right.” 

“ It’s no more’n right. I hain’t had no in- 
terest for two years ; and Mr. Bushwell owed 
me forty-eight dollars.” 

“ Did he pay your wages, Mrs. Pining ? ” 
asked Prince. 

“ Goodness knows he didn’t do nothin’ o' the 
sort. Sufferin’, dyin’ ! I guess not ! I never 
had nothin’ but my board.” 

“ If I were you, I should present a bill for 
wages.” 

“ Wages ! ” exclaimed the bewildered relic. 
“ Mr. Bushwell never paid me no wages.” 

“ He ought to have done so ; and his admin- 
istrator can do so now. The money will come 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


865 


out of me in the end, as I am the heir; but I 
shall not object.” 

“Wal, now, I declare!” gasped the widow. 
“ How fur back can I go ? ” 

“ Six years. I don’t think the administrator 
can pay for a longer time.” 

“ That’s long enough. I never was so struck 
up in my life. Sufferin’, dyin’ I Six years ! 
How many weeks are they in that time. Prince ? 
You’re better’n I am at figgers.” 

“ Three hundred and twelve.” 

“ Airthquakes and applesass ! If I charge two 
dollars a week will it be too much?” 

“ No, not at all.” 

‘‘How much will that make. Prince?” 

“ Six hundred and twenty-four dollars.” 

“We’re all sufferin’ creeturs ; and I never 
knowed there was so much money in the world ! 
Mr. Longimore never ’ll pay no such wages.” 

“I think he will. Make out the bill, and 
we will try it, at any rate.” 

“ Sufferin’, dyin’ ! I ain’t much at readin’ 
and writin’. ” 

“I will do it for you.” 

“You’re a good boy, arter all. Prince” added 


866 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


Mrs. Pining, almost overwhelmed by this sudden 
expectation of wealth. 

She did not say that her wages had been tlie 
hope that Fox Bushwell would make her his 
wife, and thus insure her a home to the end of 
her days. Prince thought it no more than jus- 
tice that she should be paid for her service, 
whatever the bargain with her employer had 
been. She received the full amount which. Prince 
suggested, and the principal and interest of the 
debt. She found another place as housekeeper ; 
but miserly and half-witted as she was, she was 
filled with gratitude to Prince, though she feared 
that the miser would rise from his grave to re- 
proach her for taking wages for her labor. 

Three weeks later, Don John completed the 
Fairy, — the fifth boat belonging to the Dorcas 
Club, — and it was a happy day, when for the 
first time all “ our girls ” were afloat at the same 
time. For this occasion a picnic down the bay 
had been arranged, and as the day proved to be 
mild and pleasant, the excursion was extended 
over to Turtle Head, where the fleet of the 
Yacht Club was at anchor. 

As the little squadron approached Turtle Head, 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


867 


two guns were fired by Commodore Montague’s 
sloop, and all the yachtmen cheered till they 
were hoarse. A collation was served to the fair 
rowers, and everybody seemed to be at the high' 
water of rejoicing. In the afternoon, the first 
race of the season was organized, for the girls 
were by this time competent to pull a rapid 
stroke without injury. Prince would not permit 
the race to extend beyond half a mile. 

“ One — two — three — go ! ” shouted Prince, 
and every boat started at the same instant. 

For some time they seemed to be rowing “by 
fives;” but pretty soon the Dorcas began to 
forge ahead, — perhaps because the girls in it 
were older and stronger. She held this advan- 
tage to the end, and came in ahead. The Un- 
dine was second, the Psyche third, the Lily 
fourth, and the Fairy last. Then Commodore 
Montague declared that it was a shame no prizes 
had been provided, and in a gallant speech he 
presented the leader of the winning boat a bou- 
quet of sea-weeds, which made a deal of fun. 

During the season, these excursions were often 
repeated, and the enjoyment of them was all but 
supreme. The physique of the girls was greatly 


368 


THE DORCAS CLUB. 


improved, 'and they were all as brown and ruddy 
as the daughters of the fanners. But our story 
will be finished when we have said that Prince 
was very happy in the family of the Longimores, 
and that they — especially Mollie were equally 
happy in having him as a member of their cir- 
cle. Probably the cashier will never be any- 
thing but a cashier ; but he is in very great 
danger of having an excellent young man, worth 
about one hundred thousand dollars, for a son- 
in-law, — for Prince and Mollie, as they grow 
older, seem to be of the same mind. 

Simon Potter was found dead in his lonely cot- 
tage one day, by a peddler who called to sell 
him some tin ware. Among his papers was 
found a will, which made Mr. Longimore and 
his heirs his sole legatees. The estate yielded 
only four thousand dollars, but the cashier paid 
off the mortgage on his house with it, and was 
happy to “ owe no man anything.” 

The Dorcas Society continued to do its good 
work among the poor of the city, blessing hun- 
dreds by its labors and its charities, while the 
members continued, season after season, to win 
health and strength from the recreations of The 
Dorcas Club. 


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cates none but the best sentiments; and the “ Yacht Club'* 
m no exception to this rule . — New Haven Jour, andCowne^, 


OLIVER OPTIC'S BOOKS. 


FAMOUS "BOAT-CLUB” SEEIES. 

Ijibrary for fonug People. Six volumes, liandsomely lllustrace^ 
Per volume, $1.35. 


1. THE BOAT CLUB; 

Or, The Bunkers of Rippletoo. 

8. ALL ABOARD; 

Or, Life on the Lake* 

8. NOW OR NEVER; 

Or, The Adventures of Bobby Bright. 

4. TRY AGAIN; 

Or, The Trials and Triumphs of Harry West 

5. POOR AND PROUD; 

Or, The Fortunes of Katy RedboriL 

«. LITTLE BY LITTLE; 

Or, The Cruise of thd Flyaway. 


This is the first series of books written for the young by 
** Oliver Optic.” It laid the foundation for his fame as the 
first of authors in which the young delight, and gained for 
him the title of the Prince of Story-Tellers. The six books 
are varied in incident and plot, but all are entertaming and 
original. 


OLIVER OPTICS BOOKS. 


THE BLUE AND THE GHAT 

SERIES 

Illustrated. With Emblematic Dies. Each volume bound in Blue 
ami Gray. Per volume, $1.50. 


TAKEN BY THE ENEMY. 

WITHIN THE ENEMY’S LINES. 

ON THE BLOCKADE. 

STAND BY THE UNION. 

FIGHTING FOR THE RIGHT. 

The opening of a new series of books from the pen of Oliver Optic is bound to 
arouse the highest anticipation in tlie minds of boy and girl readers. There 
never has been a more interesting writer in the field of juvenile literature than 
Mr. W. T. Adams, who, under his well-known pseudonym, is known and admired 
by every boy and girl in the country, and by thousands wlio have long since 
passed the boundaries of youth, yet who remember with pleasure the genial, in- 
teresting pen that did so much to interest, instruct and entertain their younger 
years. The present volume opens “ The Blue and the Gray Series,” a title that is 
sufficiently indicative of the nature and spirit of the series, of which the first 
volume is now presented, while the name of Oliver Optic is sufficient wan ant of 
the absorbing style of narrative. “ Taken by the Enemy,” the first book of the 
series, is as bright and entertaining as any work that Mr. Adams has }et put 
forth, and will be as eagerly perused as any that has be»-ne his name. It would 
not be fair to the prospective reader to deprive him of the zest which comes from 
the unexpected, by entering into a synopsis of the story. A word,^ however, 
should be said in regard to the beauty and appropriateness of the binding, which 
makes it a most attractive volume.— Budget. 

“ Taken by the Enemy ” has just come from the press, an announcement that 
cannot but appeal to every healthy boy from ten to fifteen yean of age in the 
country- “No writer of the present day,” says the Boston Cor»monwealth, 
“whose aim has been to hit the boyish heart, has been as successfu' as Oliver 
Optic There is a period in the life of every youth, just about the time that he is 
collecting postage-stamps, and before his legs are long enough for a bicyc'^, when 
he has the Oliver Optic fever. He catches it by reading a few stray pages “oine- 
where, and then there is nothing for it but to let the matter take its course Re- 
lief comes only when the last page of the last book is read; and then there are 
relapses whenever a new book appears until one is safely on through the 
*«ens.” — Literary News. 


OLIVER OPTIC* S BOOKS. 


RIVERDALE STORY-BOOKS. 

Twelve Toluines, profusely illustrated. A new edition. Illuminated Papel 
Covers, per set, $2.00; Cloth, in neat box, per set, $S.60. 


l. LITTLE MERCHANT. 

2. YOUNG VOYAGERS. 

3. CHRISTMAS GIFT. 

4. DOLLY AND I. 

5. UNCLE BEN. 

6. BIRTHDAY PARTY. 

7. PROUD AND LAZY. 

8- CARELESS KATE. 

9- ROBINSOE CRUSOE, JR. 

10. THE PICNIC PARTY. 

11- THE GOLD THIMBLE. 

12. THE DO-SOMETHINGS. 


The “ Riverdale Stories” are a series of short bright sto. 
ries for younger children than those who are able to compre 
hend“The Stany Flag Series,” “The Woodville Stories,’ 
“Army and Navy Stories,” &e. But they all display the 
author’s talent for pleasing “Little Folks” as well as the 
older children. They are all fresh, taking stories, preaching 
no sermons but inculcating good lessons. 


OLIVER OPTICS BOOKS. 


ALL OVER THE WORLD 

SERIES 

Illustrated Per Volume 


A MISSING MILLION 
A MILLIONAIRE AT SIXTEEN 
A YOUNG KNIGHT ERRANT 
STRANGE SIGHTS ABROAD 

(Others in Preparation) j 


“ The bare announcement o£ a new series of books by Oliver 
Optic will delight boys all over the country. When they farther 
learn that their favorite author proposes to ‘ personally conduct ’ 
his army of readers on a grand tour of the world, there will be a 
terrible scrambling for excursion tickets — that is, the opening 
volume of the ‘ Globe Trotting Series’ Of one thing the boys 
may be dead sure, it will be no tame, humdrum journey, for 
Oliver Optic does not believe that fun and excitement are 
injurious to boys, but, on the contrary, if of the right kind, he 
thinks it does them good. Louis Belgrave is a fortunate lad, 
because, at sixteen, he was the possessor of a cool million of 
dollars. No one, not even a young boy, can travel without money, 
as our author well knows, therefore he at once provided a liberal 
supply. Louis is a fine young fellow with good principles and 
honor, so he can be trusted to spend his million wisely. But he 
does not have entirely smooth sailing. In the first place he has 
a rascally step-father whom he had to subjugate, a dear mother 
to protect and care for, and the missing million to find before he 
could commence his delightful travels. They are all accom- 
plished at last, and there was plenty of excitement and brave 
exploits in the doing of them, as the boy readers will find. The 
cover design shows many things — a globe, the Eiffel tower, 
mountains, seas, rivers, castles and other things Louis will see on 
his travels. — Current Review. 


LEE AND SHEPARD Publishers Boston 


OLIVER OPTIC'S BOOKS. 


THE LAKE SHORE SERIES. 

i^ix volumes. Illustrated, lu ueat box. Per vol., $1.95. 


1. THROUGH BY DAYLIGHT; 

Or, The Young Engineer of the Lake Shore 
Railroad. 

8. LIGHTNING EXPRESS; 

Or, The Rival Academies. 

8. ON TIME; 

Or, The Young Captain of the Uca^ga Steamef 

4. SWITCH OFF; 

Or, The War of the Students. 

6. BRAKE-UP; 

Or, The Young Peacemakers. 

6. BEAR AND FORBEAR; 

Or, The Young Skipj'^jr of Lake Vcayga. 


Oliver Optic ” is one of tlie most fascinating writers for 
youth, and withal one of the best to be found in this or any 
past age. Iroops of young people hang over his vivid pages, 
and not one of them ever learned to be mean, ignoble, cow- 
ardly, selfish, or to yield to any vice from anything they ever 
read from his pen. — Providence Press. 


OLIVER OPTIC'S BOOKS. 


FOR ADULT READERS. 


THE WAY OF THE WORLD. 

12mo. Cloth. Illagtrated. $1.75. 


One of the most interesting American novels we have 
read. — Philadelphia City Item. 

This story treats of a fortune of $3,000,000, left a youth- 
ful heir. The volume comprises 464 pages, and bears evi- 
dence in every chapter of the fresh, original and fasci- 
nating style which has always enlivened Mr. Adams’s pro- 
ductions. We have the same felicitous manner of working 
out the plot by conversation, the same quaint wit and humor., 
and a class of characters which stand out boldly, pen pho- 
tographs of living beings. The enlightened and liberal 
man of wealth ; the scheming doctor ; the polished and un- 
principled artist ; the innocent victim of man’s perfidy ; the 
fier}^ brother, bursting out at his sister’s wrongs ; and all the 
minor characters are well-drawn. 

The book furnishes a most romantic, and withal a most 
instructive illustration of the way of the world in its false 
estimate of money. All who read the first chapter entitled 

Three Millions,” will not be satisfied until they have read 
the thirty-five chapters terminating with “The Last of the 
Three Millions.” 

This story is fascinating, and you will be pleased ana 
profited by reading it. 


OLIVER OPTIC’S BOOKS. 


IN DOOES AND OUT: 

OB, 

VIEWS FROM A CHIMNEY CORNER 

12mo. Numerous Illustrations. $1.50. 


Differing from other books of this popular author in that it 
Is intended for adult readers, while the others are written for 
young people. 

It contains about thirty bright and interesting stories of 
a domestic order, directed against the follies and foibles of 
the age. They are written in a kindlj^ genial style, and with 
a sincere purpose to promote happiness, good feeling, and 
right dealing in domestic, business, and social relations. 

Man}^ who have not time and patience to wade through a 
long story, will find here many pithy and sprightl}’ tales, each 
sharply hitting some social absurdity or social vice. We 
recommend the book heartily after having read the thre^ 
chapters on “ Taking a Newspaper.” If all the rest are as 
sensible and interesting as these, and doubtless the}" are, the 
Dook is well worthy of patronage. — Vermont Record. 

As a writer of domestic stories, Mr. William T. Adams 
(Oliver Optic) made his mark even before he became so im- 
mensel}’' popular through his splendid books for the young. 
In the volume before us are given several of these tales, and 
they comprise a book which will give them a popularity 
greater than they have ever before enjoyed. They are writ- 
ten in a spirited style, impart valuable practical lessons, and 
are of the most livel}" interest. We have seen these stories 
likened to Arthur’s domestic tales ; but v/hile they instil 
equally as valuable lessons, we think tl em written with much 
more force and spirit. — Boston Home Journal. 


i'HE STAERT FLAG SERIES^ 

Six volumes. Illustrated. Per vol. 


1. THE STARRY FLAG; 

Or, The Young Fisherman of Cape Ant|. 

8. BREAKING AWAY^ 

Or, The Fortunes of a Student. 

SEEK AND FIND; 

Or, The Adventures of a Smart Boir. 

i. FREAKS OF FORTUNE; 

Or, Half Round the World. 

i. MAKE OR BREAK; 

Or, The Rich Man’s Danghtet- 

8. DOWN THE RIVER; 

Or, Buck Bradford and the Tyrants 


Mr. Adams, the celebrated and popular writer, familiarly 
known as “ Oliver Optic,” seems to have inexhaustible funde 
Sbr weaving together the virtues of life ; and notwithstanding 
he has written scores of books, the same freshness and nov- 
elty runs through them all. Some people think the sonsa 
tional element predominates. Perhaps it does. But a ti<?oH 
for young people needs this : and so long as good sentiments 
iccuiCb oed such books ought to be reaA. 


OLIVER OPTIC'S BOOKS. 


YOUNG AMERICA ABROAD. 

PIKST SEKIES. 

A lii^rary of Travel and Adventure in Foreign Lands. 16mo. 
Illustrated by Wast, Stevens, Perkins, and others. 

Per volume, $1.50. 


1, OUTWARD BOUND; 

Or, Young America Afloat. 

2. SHAMROCK AND THISTLE; 

Or, Young America in Ireland and Scotland* 

s. RED CROSS; 

Or. Young America in England and Wales. 

4. DIKES AND DITCHES; 

Or, Young America in Holland and Belgium. 

5. PALACE and" cottage ; 

Or, Young America in France and Switzerland. 

DOWN THE RHINE; 

Or, Young America in Germany. 


The stoiy from its inception and through the twelve vol 
ames (^«see Second Series)^ is a bewitching one, while the in- 
formation imparted, concerning the countries of Europe and 
the isles of the sea, is not only correct in every particular, but 
is told in a captivating style. “ Oliver Optic ” will continue 
to be the boy’s friend, and his pleasant books will continue to 
he read b}^ thousands of American boys. What a fine holiday 
present either or both series of “ Young America Abroad” 
would be for a young friend ! It would make a little library 
highly prized by the recipient, and would not be an expensiv«i 
one. — Providence Press. 


OLIVER OPTiaS BOOKS. 


YOUNa AMERICA ABROAD. 


SECOND SERIES. 


1 


A. ILiibrary of Travel and Adventure in Foreign Tiands. 16mo. 
Illustrated by JVast, Stevens, Perkins, and others. 

Per volume, $1.50. 


1. UP THE BALTIC; 

Or, Young America in Norway, Sweden, and 
Denmark. 

2. NORTHERN LANDS; 

Or, Young America in Russia and Prussia. 

3 . CROSS AND CRESCENT; 

Or, Young America in Turkey and Greece. 

4. SUNNY SHORES; 

Or, Young America in Italy and Austria. 

5. VINE AND OLIVE; 

Or, Young America in Spain and Portugal. 

6 . ISLES OF THE SEA; 

Or, Young America Homeward Bound. 

Oliver Optic” b a nom deplume that is known and loved 
by almost every bo}^ of intelligence in the land. We have 
seen a highly intellectual and world-weary man, a cynic whose 
heart was somewhat imbittered by its large experience of 
human nature, take up one of Oliver Optic’s books and read 
it at a sitting, neglecting his work in yielding to the fascina- 
tion of the pages. When a mature and exceedingly well- 
informed mind, long despoiled of all its freshness, can thus 
iind pleasure in a book for boys, no additional words of rec- 
o ynm ondation are needed. — Sunday Times, 


OLIVER OPTIC'S BOOKS. 


THE HREAT WESTERN 

SERIES. 

Six Volumes. Illustrated. Per vol.i 


1. GOING WEST; 

Or, The Perils of a Poor Boy. 

2. OUT WEST; 

Or, Roughing it on the Great Lakesi 

5. LAKE BREEZES; 

Or, The Cruise of the Sylvania. 

4. GOING SOUTH; 

Or, Yachting on the Atlantic Coatt. 

6. DOWN SOUTH; 

Or, Yacht Adventures in Florida. 

5. UP THE RIVER ; 

Or, Yachting on the Ml9sissip>4. 


This is the latest serfes of books issued by this popular 
writer, and deals with Life on the Great Lakes, for which a 
careful study was made by the author in a summer tour of the 
immense water sources of America. The story, which carries 
the same hero through the six books of the series, is always 
entertaining, novel scenes and varied incidents giving a con- 
stantly changing, yet always attractive aspect to the narra- 
tive. ‘‘ Oliver Optic has written nothing better. 


OLIVER OPTIC'S BOOKS. 


THE ONWARD AND UPWARD 

SERIES. 

Complete iu six volumes. Illustrated. In neat bOSk 
Per volume, $1.^5. 


1. FIELD AND FOREST; 

Or, The Fortanes of a Faram. 

2. PLANE AND PLANK; 

Or, The JUishaps of a Mechanie. 

8. DESK AND DESIT; 

Or, The Catastrophes of a Clerk. 

4. CRINGLE AND CROSS-TREE; 

Or, The Sea Swashes of a Sailor. 

5. BIVOUAC AND BATTLE; 

Or, The Strug^gles of a Soldier. 

6. SEA AND SHORE; 

Or, The Tramps of a Travellmr. 


Paul Farringford, the hero of these tales, is, like roost of 
this author’s heroes, a 3^oung man of high spirit, and of high 
aims and correct principles, appearing in the different vol 
umes as a farmer, a captain, a bookkeeper, a soldier, a sailor, 
and a traveller. In all of them the hero meets with veiy 
exciting adventures, told in the graphic style for which the 
author is famous. — Native. 


OLIVER OPTIC’S BOOKS. 


WOODVILLE STOEIES. 

fitoiforui witli Library lor Toung People. Six vols. 16mo. Uiuiia 
trated. Per vol., $1.^5. 


1. RICH AND HUMBLE; 

Oi, Tne Mission of Bertha Grant. 

2 . IN SCHOOL AND OUT; 

Or, The Conquest of Richard Grant 

3. WATCH AND WAIT; 

Or, The Young Fugitivea 

4. WORK AND WIN ; 

Or, Noddy Newman on a Crnise. 

6. HOPE AND HAVE; 

Or, Fanny Grant among the Indians. 

6 HASTE AND WASTE; 

Or, The Young Pilot of Lake Champlain. 


' Though ve are not so young as we once were, we relished 
these stories almost as much as the boys and girls for whom 
they were written. They were really refreshing even to us. 
There is much in them which is calculated to inspire a gener- 
ous, healthy ambition, and to make distasteful all reading 
tending to stimulate base desires . — Fitchburg BeveUle. 










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